If You Were Mine
by alayahchanel
Summary: Puck has a problem: he's in love with his best friend's girlfriend. Sam doesn't treat her right and he couldn't help but think she deserves better. Rachel is the perfect girl for him but Puck would never be able to let her know his true feelings without ruining his friendship with Sam. What happens when he begins to spend more time with Rachel? Could the feelings become mutual?
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! As promised here is another new story in the place of** _ **Toxic**_ **. Enjoy!**

 **Plot: Puck has a problem: he's in love with his best friend's girlfriend. Sam doesn't treat her right and he couldn't help but think she deserves better. Rachel is the perfect girl for him but Puck would never be able to let her know his true feelings without ruining his friendship with Sam. What happens when he begins to spend more time with Rachel? Could the feelings become mutual?**

Chapter 1

"Noah! Get up or you'll be late. And I'm not writing another excuse note," Puck heard his mom call from downstairs.

He groaned and reluctantly got up to get ready for school. When he was dressed, he went downstairs to find his mom making breakfast and his brother and sister at the table. As he sat down to join them, Maria put a plate of food in front of him.

"Eat," she said. "You have practice today and I don't want you to get dehydrated."

He looked at his brother. "You didn't force Jake to eat anything and he's on the team too. What would his mom think if she knew you were starving him?"

"I already ate," Jake smirked.

Maria rolled her eyes. "Please Noah do you honestly think his mother would've let him stay with us if she thought I was going to neglect him? Now stop mouthing off and eat."

Puck shrugged and began to eat. When they had first found out about Jake's existence from a one night stand between his father and a random waitress, everyone could tell Maria was crushed. It was already bad enough that his dad had betrayed her and left Puck and his sister but he also left another kid who would have no idea who his dad was. Puck wanted to get to know Jake so he began to hang out with him.

When they found out that Jake's mom had to move home to Cleveland to take care of her mother, Puck convinced Maria to let Jake stay with them so he wouldn't have to move away from them. After Maria and Jake's mom had a long talk, Jake's mom consented to him living with the family. While it took some adjusting for everyone, eventually Jake became part of the family.

The doorbell rang and Maria went to open the door. "Oh good morning Sam. Come on in."

"Morning Mrs. Puckerman," he said as he walked in.

Puck looked at him. "Wasn't expecting to see you this early."

"I'm having car trouble and my dad has an early meeting so I was hoping I could catch a ride with you guys instead of walking."

"Sure no problem."

"Speaking of which," Maria said. "You boys better get going. Have a good day."

Puck and Jake got their backpacks and left. When they got to school, they went to their lockers. As they stood there, Sam looked at Puck.

"So are we still playing video games at your house after practice?" he asked.

Puck glanced at him. "I thought you were supposed to be hanging out with Rachel at her house?"

"No not today. All we ever do when we go is watch movies or I have to listen to her sing. And then when we actually do make out she doesn't let me touch her boobs. It's crazy."

Jake laughed. "You sure she's even into you?"

Sam waved him off. "Please, I see her face when I'm on the football field. She's crazy about me that's for sure. But I don't know if I'll keep staying with her if I don't get anything out of it."

Puck stayed quiet for the rest of the conversation. Sometimes he wanted to tell Sam off for the way he thought when it came to Rachel. It was like he just used her for convenience, not as if she was a girl that he really wanted to be with. But he knew he couldn't say anything so he grabbed his textbook as the bell rang and went to class.

When their free period came, Puck walked through the halls trying to find something to do for the next hour. While he walked, he heard a piano being played and walked towards the sound. He eventually came to the choir room and found Rachel inside playing the piano and humming to herself. He smiled to himself as he watched her. He never knew she could play so well and listening to her made him impressed.

"Puck," a voice said, scaring him. He looked and saw it was Finn. "You okay dude?"

He quickly nodded. "Yeah I'm fine. What's up?"

"A few of us are going to hang out in the gym for free period. Want to come?"

"Yeah I'll meet you there."

Finn nodded and walked away as Puck turned back to watch Rachel. As she finished, he slowly walked in.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Oh hey Puck."

"Hey. Spending free period practicing?"

"Yeah I just like to come in here sometimes and just play. I don't really have anyone to spend the period with so I just come here."

"What about Sam?" he asked, even though he already knew the answer.

"He likes to use it to be with his friends. Plus I know he doesn't like to just sit and listen to me play. He gets bored pretty easily."

"And that's okay with you?"

She shrugged. "I mean I'm not thrilled about it but relationships are about compromise so as long as he comes over after school it doesn't bother me. But speaking of free period plans shouldn't you be with him?"

Suddenly remembering the plans Finn told him about, Puck nodded. "Yeah I just remembered we did have plans. But I thought I'd-"

"Hey babe," Sam said, walking into the room and giving Rachel a kiss. "I thought I'd find you in here." He looked at Puck. "What are you doing here?"

"I just heard Rachel playing and it caught my attention. She's pretty good."

"Yeah she's okay," Sam replied dismissively.

Puck bit his lip to prevent him from speaking up as Rachel looked at Sam. "I thought you were hanging out with your friends?"

"Well I'm not going to be able to make it after school because my mom wants me to do chores so I thought we could hang out now."

Rachel's smile faltered at hearing that Sam wasn't coming after school but she nodded. "Okay sure." She looked at Puck. "See you around Puck."

He nodded as they walked out. More than likely Sam was going to take Rachel behind the bleachers to make out with her instead of actually talking to her. Puck just hated how Sam couldn't tell that she was disappointed about him not coming after school. It was like he didn't even know his own girlfriend. Puck didn't know what Rachel saw in Sam but he knew he was biased because of his feelings for her. All he knew was that it sucked to like someone who wasn't available in any way.

 **Let me know your thoughts :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! So sorry for the long wait, things kept coming up. To make up for it I have a longer chapter for you guys so enjoy!**

Chapter 2

At practice all Puck could think about was how Sam treated Rachel earlier. He hated seeing those two together. Sam didn't deserve someone as amazing as Rachel. She deserves so much better but Puck knew if he said anything that'd be the end of his friendship with Sam.

He was brought out of his thoughts when he felt a football hit his head. "Hey!"

"Sorry bro you looked like you were in la la land," Jake smirked. "Had to bring you back to earth."

"You're lucky I have my helmet on otherwise I'd be ready to kill you."

"Whatever. What's got your mind so occupied anyway? Too busy thinking of Rachel?"

Puck looked at him confused. "Why would you think that?"

Jake rolled his eyes. "I see the way you give Sam the death stare every time they're together or when he talks about her like this morning. What's the deal? You like her or something?"

"Maybe," he said, tossing the ball in the air.

Jake sighed and walked over to him to ensure no one would hear. "Look, I'm your brother. I know we haven't known each other that long but you can talk to me. I won't say anything to anyone."

Puck hesitated before giving in and nodding. "Yeah I like Rachel."

Before Jake could respond, the coach blew his whistle. "Come on boys, get to work!"

Jake looked back at Puck. "We can talk later."

As he put on his helmet and went with the other guys, Puck sighed to himself before reluctantly following. He never wanted to tell anyone about his feelings for Rachel because he always thought it would somehow get back to Sam. But he knew he could trust Jake. They were brothers after all.

When practice was over, Puck and Jake were walking to the parking lot when they found Rachel standing there.

"Rachel?" Puck said walking over to her.

She looked at them and smiled. "Hey guys. How was practice?"

"Exhausting," Jake responded. "What are you still doing here?"

"I was hanging out with Kurt but he had to help his dad so he went home. I thought my dads would come get me but I guess they had a late meeting or something. And I know Sam went home early because he wasn't feeling well so here I am."

Puck tried to hold back his smirk. After free period Sam threw up his lunch. Puck liked to think of it as karma for having the intention to ditch Rachel after school. "Well I can give you a ride if you want."

"Really? It wouldn't be any trouble?"

"Not at all," he shook his head.

"Thank you so much Puck. I really appreciate it."

"Come on let's go," he said as he lead Rachel and Jake to his truck.

As he drove home, Puck couldn't help but glance at Rachel every now and then through the rearview mirror. She was on her phone and from the subtle smiles every now and then he assumed she was talking to Sam.

Her phone started ringing and she immediately picked up. "Hey Dad. No don't worry, I got a ride home with friends. You are? Oh. Don't worry I'll be fine. Yes I know the rules. Okay. Love you too. Bye."

When she sighed, Puck frowned. "Everything ok Rachel?"

"Yeah it's just that my dads are going away on a business trip for two weeks so I'll be home by myself. It just sucks being there alone."

He hesitated before speaking. "Well if you ever need company you're welcome to come over to our house. I'm sure our sister could use some girl time since my mom is always busy with work."

"Thanks I'll keep that in mind," she smiled. Puck smiled back, ignoring Jake's raised eyebrow. When he got to Rachel's house, she got out and went to the driver's side. "Thanks again for the ride. I really appreciate it."

"No problem. Besides I'm sure Sam would kill me if I let his girlfriend walk home by herself."

Rachel giggled. "Yeah I guess you're right. I'll see you guys tomorrow. Bye Jake."

"See you Rachel," he replied as she turned away. After making sure she got in her house okay, Puck drove off as Jake smirked. "Yeah because you really believe Sam gives a shit if Rachel walks home alone."

"Hey she's dating him for a reason. Maybe he acts like he cares or something."

"Smooth move though, inviting her to come to the house then using Sara as an excuse. But I'm pretty sure you realize Sam's going to use her dads being gone as an excuse to try to have sex with her."

"Yeah I know. But it wouldn't hurt to offer her an alternative."

"Well now you can tell me how you ended up having a crush on your best friend's girlfriend."

Puck sighed. "Well it all started last year. Rachel was new and I volunteered to show her around to get out of going to practice. She was kind of strange and dressed weird but the more I talked to her, the more I saw that she was actually pretty cool so I started to like her. But then Sam came and saw us talking and I could instantly tell he wanted her. He thought she was a challenge so he wanted to try to get her."

"That's weird. It just seems like they have nothing in common."

"From what I can see they don't. But Rachel started to like him back so she finally agreed to go out with him."

As they pulled up to their house, Jake looked at him. "So Sam doesn't know?"

"Nope. He thinks I just wanted a friendship with her and before I could actually try to ask Rachel out, she was coming to me saying that she accepted a date with him."

"Wow," he said as they got out of the car. "You like your best friend's girl."

Puck hesitated. "Actually it's becoming more than like."

Jake raised an eyebrow. "You're in love with her? Seriously?"

"There's just something about her. She's special and Sam's too much of an idiot to see it."

"Well regardless of how much of a jerk he is, he _is_ Rachel's boyfriend. Rachel wants to be with him and if you value your friendship with her you're going to have to accept that."

"I know, it's just hard. And I want to spend time with her but every time I turn around Sam's there."

Jake sighed. "Look I know you may like her but you're going to have to back off. If she wants to be with Sam you have to leave her alone. Otherwise you might just lose both of them."

As he went to his room, Puck groaned. He knew Sam was right but the situation was just too messed up at this point. He wanted to be with Rachel but there was nothing he could do about it while she was with Sam. And if Sam found out about his feelings for her he'd be pissed and probably never want him to be around her. He was just stuck.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day, Puck and Jake got to school and found Sam handing out invitations to everyone. When they walked over to him, Jake looked at him.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"My parents are going away to visit my grandparents this weekend so I'm throwing a party," Sam said, handing Puck an invitation.

"Your parents are going away too?" Puck raised an eyebrow. "So are Rachel's."

"Yeah I know, it's awesome isn't it?" He paused and looked at him, confused. "Wait how do you know that?"

"I was giving her a ride home yesterday when she found out."

"Oh well yeah, I told Rachel both of our parents going away is a sign."

"A sign?" Jake asked.

"That we should have sex this weekend."

Even though his heart dropped at the thought of Sam and Rachel having sex, Puck just shook his head. "What makes you think she's ready for that?"

"We've been having some pretty hot makeouts lately. I'm pretty sure she's giving off hints that she's ready to go all the way."

"You do realize those aren't always hints right? Maybe she just really likes kissing you or something."

Sam shrugged. "Well if she likes kissing me I'm sure she'll like doing other things with me if you know what I mean."

Seeing Puck getting more and more uncomfortable with the conversation, Jake quickly changed the subject. "Well we'll definitely be at the party."

"Cool. Puck I need you to use your fake ID and help with the drinks, is that okay?"

Remembering that he was still talking to his friend, Puck quickly put on a fake smile and nodded. "Yeah no problem."

"Perfect. I'll see you guys later."

As he walked away, Jake looked Puck. "You okay? You looked like you wanted to kill Sam for even having the thought of sleeping with Rachel."

"Because I do. Who says she even wants to have sex with him? She's not that kind of girl."

"Maybe she is. Maybe she's different with the guy she's dating," Jake suggested before walking away.

Puck groaned before walking to class. Later on when he was in the gym for free period, he heard the gym door open and turned to see Rachel walking in.

"Hey," he greeted. "Sam's in study hall, surprisingly."

"I know, he said he had a test to cram for. I was actually looking for you."

Puck raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Me? What for?"

She looked down, nervously. "I needed to talk to you about something. And if it's too awkward or uncomfortable just let me know."

"What is it?" he asked, even though he had an idea of what it was about.

"So you know Sam's having a party this weekend right?"

"Yeah I found out this morning."

"Well both of our parents will be out of town so he thinks it's the perfect opportunity to…have sex for the first time."

Puck nodded, trying to figure out what to say that wouldn't show he already knew this information. "Well what do you think?"

"I don't know," she replied. "I mean, I love Sam and we've been dating for six months but I just don't know if I'm ready to take that step with him. But I'm afraid that if I don't do it, he'll get mad and break up with me. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I figured since you're his best friend you would maybe an idea of how I can handle it."

Everything inside Puck wanted to scream for Rachel not to do it but he couldn't act like the jealous guy who has feelings for her. He had to be her friend. "I know you want to be with him but you also have to think about yourself. If you're really not ready to do this then you shouldn't. If Sam gets mad and doesn't want to be with you anymore because of it then that tells you that maybe he's not the one you should be dating."

After thinking about it, Rachel nodded. "Yeah I guess you're right. Thanks for the advice. You were surprisingly helpful."

"Surprisingly?"

"Well I thought that being Sam's friend you guys had a code that said you're supposed to help each other get opportunities to have sex so I figured you would've told me to do it."

Puck laughed. "No not really. I mean if we're the wingman for the night then yes but other than that, he's on his own."

"Good to know," she giggled. "So will you be at the party?"

"Yeah I guess. I'm supposed to be helping supply the alcohol so I guess I have to go."

"Well I look forward to seeing you there. It should be fun." She shrugged. "You never know, you might even meet a girl there."

Puck smirked at this thought. There was only one girl he wanted and she didn't even realize it. "Trust me, I won't be meeting anyone. I think I'll just enjoy hanging out with everyone."

She nodded in understanding. "Well that can be fun too."

Before he could say anything else, Kurt came rushing in. "Rachel there you are. I've been looking all over for you and Mercedes said you were in here." He noticed Puck and froze in shock and confusion. "Oh hey Puck."

"Hey," he gave a small wave.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked Kurt.

"I got your text about Sam's party and I wanted to let you know I won't be able to come. I promised my dad I'd go visit my great aunt for the weekend and he's not letting me back out."

She frowned. "Oh. Well that's ok, I'll make sure to fill you in on everything when you get back."

"Make sure you do." He looked at Puck. "Look out for her will you? Make sure she doesn't get too wild with her boy toy."

"You got it boss," Puck nodded.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Come on, free period's almost over and I want to get in some piano practice." She looked at Puck. "Thanks again for the advice."

"Anytime," he replied.

As she took Kurt's hand and walked out of the gym with him, Puck let out a breath. He had no idea how much longer he'd be able to keep up this act of him not liking her but he did know that he may have just saved her from making a mistake with Sam. Hopefully she follows his advice because the last thing he wanted to hear was Sam bragging about having sex with her. That would probably send him over the edge.

 **What do you think is going to happen at the party? Let me know your thoughts. Bye for now :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone! Finals are coming up so I wanted to get an update out before I go into finals mode. So enjoy!**

Chapter 3

That Saturday, the party at Sam's house was in full affect. Puck and Jake walked in and looked around at everyone either drinking or dancing. After scanning the room, Puck found Sam on the couch with Rachel in his lap laughing at something he said.

"Are you sure you're okay to be here?" Jake asked. "I mean I know we've gone to parties with Sam and Rachel before but that was before I knew about…you know. If you want, we can just drop off the drinks and go back home."

Puck shook his head. "No I'm fine. Besides, there's something I need to watch out for."

Jake looked at his brother, confused but before he could ask, Sam and Rachel walked over to them.

"Finally you made it," Sam said.

"Sorry, had to wait for my mom to get home so Sara wasn't alone," Puck explained before handing over the kegs. "Knock yourself out."

"Thanks dude. You guys know the drill, in case you find a girl any room in the house is available except my room and my parents' room. Just make sure you clean up."

"Got it," the boys nodded.

Sam looked at Rachel. "Babe can you put these in the kitchen? I need to change the music, this heavy metal shit TJ picked out is starting to give me a headache."

"Sure," she replied, taking the kegs as Sam walked away.

Seeing that she was clearly struggling, Puck clearly took one. "Here let me help you."

He followed her to the kitchen where they set the kegs down on the counter. Rachel looked at him. "Thanks."

"No problem. Enjoying the party so far?"

She shrugged. "Yeah it's okay. This is more of Sam's scene, I'm just here to be with him."

"Makes sense. You look great, by the way.

She smiled. "Thank you."

Puck wrestled with whether or not he wanted to ask his next question but he just had to. "Not to be nosy or anything but did the…issue come up?"

Realizing what he was referring to, Rachel shook her head. "No not yet thankfully. Sam's been more focused on the party and surprisingly that is perfectly fine with me."

He nodded as Sam motioned for Rachel to come over to him. "Well good luck with him tonight."

"Thanks," she smiled before walking over to Sam.

Seeing her go to Sam and kiss him drove Puck crazy. He fixed a drink and chugged it down before going to fix another one.

As he was doing it, Jake walked over to him. "Hey take it easy. You're driving home remember?"

"We can always crash here."

"Not to press your buttons or anything but wouldn't Rachel be staying too?"

Puck shrugged. "If I'm drunk enough I'm not going to care. In fact, I might just use this as an opportunity to turn my attention onto someone else."

"Like who?"

Instead of answering, Puck went over to the cheerleader, Santana, and started whispering in her ear. When he finished, she smiled and nodded before walking away with him. Jake shook his head at his brother. Clearly this was his way of dealing with Sam and Rachel so he couldn't interfere. He just wished there was some way he could help.

Later that night, Jake was sitting with the other drunk guys from class when Rachel came down the stairs in tears.

He immediately went over to her. "Rachel are you okay?"

She shook her head. "Can you and Puck give me a ride home? I don't want to stay here."

"Sure, uh, let me try to find him."

Jake went back upstairs and knocked on doors until he finally heard Puck's voice. When he opened the door, he quickly looked away to avoid seeing parts of his brother he didn't want to see.

"Jake what the hell?" Puck said, covering himself with the sheets as he climbed off of Santana.

"Sorry but we have to go."

"Why, did my mom call?"

"No but a friend needs our help," he said, raising his eyebrows hoping he'd get the hint.

After a few seconds Puck understood and nodded. "I'll be right out." As Jake closed the door, he got up and got dressed. "Sorry this couldn't have been an all-nighter."

"Don't worry about it Puckerman. I'm sure there will be plenty more opportunities in the future."

She leaned in and kissed him before he got up and left the room. When he went downstairs he didn't find Jake or Rachel anywhere so he went outside and found them standing in front of the car.

He walked over to them. "What happened?"

"Can you just take me home?" Rachel asked, not wanting to look at him.

Realizing this wasn't the best time to question her, he nodded. "Sure let's go."

They got in his truck and left. While riding back, Jake got an idea. "Hey Puck can you drop me off at the house before you take Rachel home? My stomach isn't feeling too good and I really need to go lay down."

Seeing nothing wrong with the request, Puck nodded. "Yeah sure."

He went to the house and let Jake out before driving away to take Rachel home. The ride was silent and Puck didn't know how to address what happened.

He figured he would start with an easy, harmless question. "Are you okay?"

She shrugged. "I guess."

"If you want to talk about it I'm all ears."

She hesitated before speaking. "It's Sam. He, uh, wanted to…you know. But I told him I'm not ready and then he just got mad and said I was a prude and that I should be grateful someone like him even wanted to be with me."

Puck wanted nothing more than to turn the car around to punch Sam square in the jaw but he had to act like he wasn't bothered. "I'm sorry that happened. Sam can be a real ass sometimes."

"I just didn't think that he would act like that towards me. He said I was really special to him."

"So what do you think this means for you two?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. All I know is if that's the guy I'm supposed to be dating then I'd rather not date him at all."

He tried to ignore the small bit of happiness he felt at her saying this as he pulled up to her house. "You sure you'll be okay here by yourself?"

"Yeah I'll be fine. I'm used to them going away. Thank you for the ride and I'm sorry if I ruined your fun."

He waved her off. "Don't worry about it. I'm happy to help."

She smiled before getting out of the car. She turned and waved as she walked up to her house. Once he made sure she was safely inside, Puck drove home. When he got there, he found Jake in the kitchen, eating ice cream.

"Thought you were sick?" he asked.

"Oh yeah that was a lie. Thought you needed some alone time with Rachel to figure out what happened so I eliminated myself. You're welcome."

Puck rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Good news is they might be breaking up. Turns out Sam's a dick who can't stop pressuring her."

"Well even if they do break up you know it's going to take her a while to want to start dating again."

"I know. I just want her to see that she can do better than someone like Sam."

"Maybe tonight she figured that out," he shrugged.

Puck sighed. He really did hope that Rachel would realize that Sam isn't the one for her but something told him that may not be the case.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On Monday, Puck walked into the school and found Sam talking to Rachel. He thought it was a breakup talk but when he saw Rachel smile and kiss Sam, he frowned. She actually forgave him for what he did. Maybe Sam was just a really good manipulator.

As Kurt walked up to them to talk to Rachel, Sam gave Rachel another kiss before walking away. When he saw Puck standing there, Sam walked over to them.

"Hey dude. That was a nice party wasn't it?"

"Yeah it was. What happened with Rachel? She was pretty upset last night and needed a ride home."

Sam shrugged. "She was acting like a prude and I called her out on it but she got all upset. But everything's good now. I just went and said some sentimental shit about how I'll try to be more patient and just like that she forgave me."

"Just like that?"

"What can I say, I know how to work Rachel by now. You just have to say the right things."

As he walked away, Puck shook his head. Of course Sam didn't mean anything he said to Rachel. He just wanted to get back on her good side so he can try to get in her pants again. And Rachel was actually buying it. Puck wanted nothing more than to go tell her not to believe a single thing that came out of Sam's mouth but he knew he couldn't. Unfortunately, he had to wait for her to see Sam's bullshit on her own. And who knows how long that would take.

 **Ok so I'm going into finals mode. I will try to update as soon as possible so make sure you keep a look out. Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 4

"Biology helps us understand who we are," the teacher lectured, walking around the classroom. "It helps us determine why we share some of the same traits as our parents and why we have the habits that we do. It is important to show appreciation for it. So for your next project, I want you to explore your family and figure out if certain physical and mental traits run in your family."

Rachel raised her hand. "Mr. Cooper what if some of us come from…special circumstances?"

"That's right," he frowned. "Well Rachel you could always observe your dads and figure out if you share any of the same habits as they do. You've been with them your whole life so you're bound to have picked up some of their behavior."

She nodded as he went on with the lecture. Puck could tell that she wasn't satisfied with the assignment and he knew he would have to talk to her about it after class.

When the bell finally rang ending class, Puck quickly got up and went to catch up with Rachel. "Rachel hey!"

She turned to him and gave a small smile. "Hey Puck. What's up?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You seemed kind of upset about the project."

"Yeah it's not really my favorite. But you don't have to worry about me, I'll be fine. I'll just call my dads and talk to them about it."

"You sure? If you need to talk I'm here," he said. He knew he was going into dangerous territory but Rachel genuinely looked like she needed someone to talk to.

Finally she sighed and nodded. "Yeah I do. Can we talk during free period in the auditorium? Sam said he wanted to work out in the gym anyway."

He nodded as she walked away to go to her next class. Puck sighed to himself. He may not be able to be there for her as a boyfriend but he could surely show her that this is the way Sam should be with her anyway.

When free period came, Puck closed his locker and started walking to meet Rachel when Jake came over to him.

"Hey do you want to go next door and get a burger? I don't think I can deal with cafeteria food today."

"Uh actually I'm hanging out with Rachel."

Jake frowned. "Dude, you're really putting yourself through this?"

"You don't understand, she needs someone to talk to and Sam is too much of an asshole to really listen to her. You know he gave her some fake apology for Saturday night and said everything she wants to hear just so she would forgive him?"

"That's messed up but in the meantime she's still his girlfriend."

"I know that, Jake. But that's not going to stop me from helping her."

He walked away before Jake could say anything else. Even though he was potentially breaking his own heart with helping Rachel, he didn't care. She needed someone to talk to and he wasn't about to turn her away.

When he got the auditorium, he found Rachel sitting at the edge of the stage quietly humming to herself.

"Hey," he said getting her attention. "So what's going on?"

"I've just been thinking a lot about my mom lately."

"Your mom?" he asked, confused.

"Well you know how my dads mixed their sperm and got a surrogate right?"

"Yeah that was one of the first things you told me when we first met."

She raised an eyebrow. "You remember everything I said from when we first met?"

"Yeah how could I not?" She smiled and looked down as Puck realized they were having a moment and quickly changed the subject. "But yeah you were saying?"

"I've just been thinking about her a lot lately and I just wonder if she ever thought about meeting me someday or getting to know me. She just answered an ad and had a baby for people she didn't really even know. Does she even wonder if they ended up making great parents? And it's not like I don't love my dads, I do but I just wish I knew more about her."

"I think that's normal. Have you tried to talk to your dads about it?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to hurt their feelings. They've never told me about her but I just really want to know who she is and what she looks like."

Puck thought for a moment before speaking. "Have you told Sam about this?"

"No he wouldn't understand. I don't think anyone understands, really."

"I do. I mean I know who my dad is but the guy left right after Sara was born. I can only imagine the kind of questions she's going to have when she gets older and I don't know how I'm supposed to be able to answer. It's natural for you to want to know who you came from. Your mom is part of you and you want to understand who that part is."

"Exactly," she said, surprised that Puck understood. It was like he was reading her mind.

"I think you should try to find her."

Rachel shook her head. "I don't know where to start."

"I'll help you if you want. So you don't have to do it alone."

"Really? You'd do that?"

"Absolutely. This might get intense and I don't want you to have to do it on your own."

She smiled. "Thanks Puck that really means a lot to me."

"No problem. Just let me know what you need me to do."

"I need you to keep this between us. Please don't tell anyone, especially Sam. He'd only try to talk me out of it. I'll let you know from there."

"Okay easy enough," he shrugged. "Don't worry we'll figure it out."

She smiled and nodded as the bell rang ending free period. They got up and went back to their classes as Puck smirked to himself. He had something over Sam. Clearly Rachel trusts him more than she trusts Sam which felt great.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When he walked into his house after he got off from work that evening, Puck wasn't surprised to find Finn there playing video games with Jake.

"Hey where's Mom and Sara?" he asked, coming into the living room with them.

"Uh some conference at Sara's school," Jake replied. "Apparently she kicked a boy on the playground."

"I've taught that kid well," Puck smirked before sitting on the couch.

"So how was…" Jake trailed off, looking at Finn.

"Fine. Everything's fine, don't worry about it."

Before he could say anything else, Finn spoke up. "Hey Sam wanted to sneak into some club Friday night, do you guys want to come?"

"Sure. Puck?" Jake asked, looking at his brother.

But Puck was thinking about Rachel. She actually wanted him to help her instead of Sam. This could be the opening he needed to get closer to her. He could show her that she deserved better than Sam and maybe she would finally break up with him. When he heard Jake calling his name he snapped out of his thoughts.

"Sorry what?"

"Club Friday night. You want to come?" Finn asked.

"Um actually I'll pass. I have something to do."

Jake raised an eyebrow but Puck ignored it. He didn't need to hear about his brother's disapproval. It was a risk getting this close to Rachel but it was a risk he was willing to take.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Puck predicted, Rachel texted him to come over that Friday night. When he got to her house, she opened the door to greet him.

"Hey," she smiled.

"Hey. I forgot your dads were out of town," he said, walking in.

"Yeah which will make this a lot easier," she replied, leading him into the living room. "Okay so my dads have kept everything from the moment I was born so when I searched our attic I took the box that was filled with all my baby stuff. I figured if I were going to find anything about my mother it'd be in here."

Puck nodded. "Smart thinking so let's see what we got."

They started searching through the box and kept finding dead ends. Puck could see Rachel becoming hopeless but he wasn't about to let her give up on this. As he looked in the box to grab the last thing, he found a small card with a name and phone number on it.

"Hey I might've found something," he said. "Shelby Corcoran."

Rachel's eyes widened. "That's her. That's her name."

"Are you sure? I mean it could always be a family friend or a nurse that helped deliver you."

"No I'm positive. If she was a family friend I would've met her and my dads said they never interacted with the nurses. This has to be my mom."

"Okay well it has a phone number. Should we call?"

She hesitated before shaking her head and getting up. "No I can't. I can't do this, I'm not ready."

"Rachel-"

"No I made a mistake, I shouldn't be doing this. Forget I ever asked for any of this. I just…I can't."

Before he could say anything else, Rachel ran outside leaving Puck sitting alone. He sighed, realizing that she was just overwhelmed by all of this. He wanted to show her there was nothing to worry about but he didn't know how. He just didn't want her to give up on something she clearly wanted.

 **Looks like Rachel has cold feet. Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 5

Puck walked out back and found Rachel sitting on the porch swing. When she heard him come out, she looked up at him.

"I'm sorry for freaking out back there. It was just so surreal. One second I know nothing about her then the next I'm finding her name and phone number."

"Hey I get it, it'd be a lot to take in for anyone. But I don't think we should give up. I mean you wanted to know who she was and now you have the chance."

She nodded. "I know. I just don't think I can handle calling her. I mean we don't even know if that's her current number."

Puck thought for a moment. "What if I just called? You don't have to do anything, I won't even put it on speaker if you don't want to hear her voice. At least that way we know if it's her number or not."

After thinking about it, she slowly nodded as they got up to go back inside and pull out the number. As Puck dialed the number, Rachel took deep breaths trying to relax herself. After two rings, he got an answer.

"Hello?" the woman's voice said.

"Hi, I'm looking for Shelby Corcoran."

"This is she."

Puck froze, getting confirmation that it was Rachel's mother. He quickly looked around, trying to think of an excuse as to why he was calling. "Um I'm taking a survey of women's experiences living in Lima, Ohio. Would you say that you enjoy living here?"

"Actually I don't live in Lima anymore. I moved to New York about ten years ago."

"Oh okay. Well thank you for your time."

As he hung up, Rachel stared at him. "Well?"

"It was her." She took in a breath, clearly shocked. "But we're not going to find her here."

She looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"She moved to New York ten years ago. I'm sorry Rachel."

He became worried when she went silent as she tried to process this information. Finally, she spoke. "I guess we have to go to New York."

"Wait what?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"If we're going to find my mom then we need to go to New York," she said as if it was obvious.

"Rachel we can't just up and disappear to New York. We don't even know where she lives."

"We can figure it out. Look you said you didn't want me giving up and I'm not. I know all of this is a little overwhelming but no matter what, I want to find my mom. Please Puck, I can't do this without you."

He sighed. He had no idea how any of this was going to work but he really didn't want to say no to Rachel. "What would we even tell people like our parents or Sam?"

She thought for a moment. "Well holiday break is next month. Sam is going away with his parents so that takes care of him. What if we convinced our parents to have all of us take a trip to New York together?"

"You think they'll go for it?"

She shrugged. "I mean they got along when they met and they see each other at the temple all the time. I don't think it'd be a hard sell."

Puck thought about this. A vacation with Rachel and Sam is nowhere in sight to interrupt anything. Maybe he'll be able to convince her that she deserves better than him. "What the hell. Let's give it a shot."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A week later, Puck and Rachel were standing in front of their families waiting to hear their answer.

Maria looked at Puck. "Since when have you had an interest in going to New York?"

Thinking on his feet, he quickly came up with an excuse. "Rachel's talked to me about her vacations there and I just thought it'd be a cool place to spend break. I mean we never do anything anyway and we can still celebrate Hanukkah there."

She looked at Hiram and Leroy. "What do you think?"

"Well it wouldn't be our first time celebrating the holidays in New York," Leroy said.

Hiram nodded. "I don't see why not. We'd love to celebrate together."

Maria looked at Puck. "Well you know Jake won't be able to come with us right? His mother wanted him to spend the holidays with her remember?"

"We're going without Jake?" Sara asked, sadly. She had quickly grown attached to him when he came to live with them and accepted him as another big brother.

Puck cursed to himself, remembering that was part of the conversation when Jake moved in. "Well maybe she'd be ok with him coming a little later?"

"Noah," she reprimanded.

"No it's okay," Jake cut in. "I appreciate you guys wanting to include me but I do miss my mom so I don't mind sitting this one out. I'll just see you guys when you come back."

Puck raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure bro? I mean it _is_ the first holiday we'd be spending together since we met."

"Yeah it's fine. We can do something before I leave and you guys can tell me all about it when we all come back. Honestly, it's okay."

Maria put her hand over his. "As long as this is what you want to do."

"It is," he nodded. "I'll be fine."

Rachel looked at everyone hesitantly. "So are we all going together?"

"I guess so," Hiram answered. "We'll start making the arrangements."

Rachel tried to hide her enthusiasm as she snuck a smile to Puck. He took a deep breath. He wasn't anticipating handling this vacation with Rachel by himself. He was hoping he'd at least have Jake to keep him from doing something stupid but now he was on his own.

Later that night, he went to Jake's room and knocked on the door.

"What's up?" Jake asked.

"Are you sure you're okay with not coming on vacation with us?"

"Dude if you ask me that again I will have to just start giving you the answer that you want to hear just so you'll get off my case."

Puck shrugged. "I just don't like feeling like we're leaving you out, that's all."

Jake stared at his brother for a moment. "You're nervous about handling Rachel all by yourself aren't you?"

"What? No of course not. I think I have a little more confidence with women than that, I mean come on." Seeing that his brother wasn't buying it, he sighed. "Yeah I'm nervous. I don't want to say or do anything stupid and I need someone there to keep my head from getting carried away. And I sound like a girl right now, what the hell is wrong with me?"

He laughed. "You're in love with your best friend's girlfriend. Clearly it's driving you crazy. But look, I'm sure you'll be fine. I mean Rachel probably talks to Sam all day when they're not together anyway and they'll probably be talking the whole time they're on vacation. That should keep you grounded."

Puck sighed. "God I hope so."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At school, Puck met Sam and Finn by Sam's locker.

"Hey guys," he greeted.

"Hey you're just in time," Sam said. "I was telling Finn my awesome plans for break."

"I thought you were going away with your parents like you always do?"

"Well yeah but that's not it. My cousin is coming and we plan on not only going to bar, we are also seeing how many girls' numbers the other guy can get. Might even get in one of their pants."

Finn looked at him, confused. "Uh Sam you have a girlfriend."

"Yeah that's not cool," Puck followed.

"Look Rachel's been a prude lately. If she's not offering it, I can get it from somewhere else. Besides I'll come back in a better mood and then she'll be happy that I'm doing a bunch of sappy romantic shit for her. Everyone wins."

"Except Rachel because her boyfriend is a lying, cheating asshole," Puck said, trying to contain his anger.

"What's your problem? Not like she's your girlfriend."

"Are you forgetting my dad cheated on my mom? You saw what that did to her, why would you want to put Rachel through the same pain?"

"To be fair part of your mom's pain was finding out that your dad had another kid. And plus, Rachel's not going to know unless one of you tell her which you won't because we're best friends. And best friends don't do that to each other."

Before he could respond, the bell rang causing them to have to walk to class. Puck couldn't believe Sam would really cheat on Rachel all because she won't have sex with him. Even though he and Sam were best friends, he felt like he owed it to Rachel to let her know what kind of guy Sam is. But information like this could break her heart and maybe even make her angry at him for telling her. And to make matters worse, he was about to go on vacation with her.

 **What should Puck do? Let me know your thoughts. Bye for now :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 6

During free period, Puck played basketball in the gym to keep himself from thinking about Sam's plans. The more he thought about what Sam was going to do the more he wanted to find him and kick his ass.

As he made another basket, Jake walked in. "Hey can you let your mom know I'm going over to Marley's house after school?"

"You're going to her house?" he smirked. "Hope you take protection."

"Very funny. It's not even like that, she's just helping me with my Spanish."

"Hope you know what 'fuck me' in Spanish is," he laughed. "But sure I'll let my mom know."

"Thanks. Hey I think Rachel might be looking for you. She asked if I knew where you'd be for free period."

"Shit," Puck mumbled.

Jake looked at him confused. "You don't want her to know where you are?"

"I just don't want to see her right now. Long story and I don't want to talk about it."

Before Jake could respond, Rachel walked in and Puck silently cursed to himself.

"Hey I thought I'd find you here," she said, walking over to them. "I have, uh, information so I was hoping we could meet after school?"

Knowing she was talking about her birth mom, Puck nodded. "We could but it'd have to be at my house. I have to watch Sara."

"No problem. I'll just let my dads know I'll be home later."

He nodded as she walked out. Jake looked at him, even more confused than he was before. "Okay what just happened? You just said you didn't want to see Rachel now you're meeting her after school? And what information is she talking about?"

"Don't worry about it. I just don't know how I'm going to be around her." When Jake's expression didn't change, he sighed. "Sam is planning on cheating on Rachel over break."

His brother's eyebrows raised. "What? Man he's an ass."

"And I'm an even bigger one because I can't tell Rachel."

"Why not?"

"Sam's my best friend. You don't go snitching on your best friend to his girlfriend."

"Puck you have to tell her. Besides isn't this what you've been waiting for? A chance for her to really see how terrible Sam really is?"

He shook his head. "Not if it comes at the expense of her feelings. The last thing I want to do is hurt her."

"Hate to break it to you but she's going to find out eventually and she'll be even more crushed if she finds out you knew and kept it from her. Then you'll really have no chance with her."

As Jake walked out, Puck groaned and threw the ball against the wall. He was in a lose-lose situation and he hated it.

After school, Rachel came to the Puckerman house. As Puck let her in, he looked at Sara.

"Hey Rachel and I have some work to do so work on your homework upstairs," he told her.

"What if I need help?"

"Come to me and I'll help you. But you have to at least try to do it on your own first."

She nodded and went upstairs as Rachel looked at him. "I can't wait to go on vacation with you guys, especially Sara. She's adorable."

"Yeah well that's when she's not kicking kids on the playground," he smirked. "So what's the information?"

"Okay so I did some research and I found that she lives in Brooklyn." She showed him her phone. "Turns out she owns a dance studio for kids at this location."

Puck took the phone and looked at it. "So you want to show up at her studio and tell her you're her daughter?"

"Actually I was thinking we follow her home from the studio."

He raised an eyebrow. "You want to basically stalk her?"

She shrugged. "Well I figured we could follow her one day just to see where she lives then go back the next day to talk to her. Is that crazy?"

Puck wanted to tell her yes but Rachel clearly wanted this more than anything. He couldn't stand in the way of that. "We'll figure something out so we don't completely look like stalkers."

She giggled as they started discussing their plans.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few weeks passed and it was time for winter break. As he and Rachel sat in the airport waiting for their flight, Puck noticed her smiling at her phone.

"You're awfully happy," he said.

"Oh Sam just sent me a message saying he's going to miss me and we're going to have a special date when he comes back. His grandfather is super strict when it comes to cell phones so we won't be able to talk as much."

Puck tried to keep his anger inside as he nodded and buried his face into his phone. Sam is really planning on cheating on Rachel and there was nothing he could do except tell her and break her heart.

"Rachel there's something I have to tell you," he said.

She looked at him. "Yeah?"

When he looked at her, he felt his courage go away. He couldn't hurt her. "Um I'm just glad we get to go on vacation together."

"Oh, well me too. And thanks again for helping me with all this stuff about you-know-who. You've been a really great friend."

Even though he hated that word, he gave a fake smile and nodded as she went back to her phone. This was going to be a long vacation.

When they finally got to New York, Puck couldn't get over how big the city was. He could understand why Rachel loved coming here. The city was as big and bright as she was. As they got settled in their hotel rooms, Rachel went to her dads.

"Hey can I take Puck and Sara sightseeing?" she asked.

Leroy nodded. "Sure as long as it's alright with Maria."

She grabbed her bag before leaving the room and walking to the Puckermans' room. After she knocked on the door, Maria opened it.

"Hey did your dads need something?" she asked.

Rachel shook her head. "No I actually wanted to know if it would be okay to take Puck and Sara sightseeing since it's their first time here."

"Oh well Sara's actually fast asleep. I think the flight and everything wore her out but I'm sure Noah would want to go. Why don't you come in and ask him?"

She walked in and went over to Puck who was setting up the couch. "Hey want to go do some sightseeing?"

"Just the two of us?" he asked, nervously. He hasn't figured out how to be around her knowing what Sam is doing where he was.

"Yeah your mom said Sara was asleep so I figured we could still go. What do you say?"

"Uh sure," he nodded.

"Make sure you two are careful and back in time for dinner," Maria told them.

The teens nodded before leaving. Once outside of the hotel, Rachel looked at Puck.

"Hey have you heard from Sam? He said he'd call or text today before he gets busy with his grandfather but I haven't heard anything from him."

"No I haven't heard anything," he told her. But he really just wanted to tell her the truth.

She shrugged. "I guess I'll have to wait and see. But since we don't have Sara with us maybe we can find the dance studio my birth mom owns."

"Might as well take advantage of the free time."

Rachel smiled as she hailed a cab. While they were in the cab, Puck could sense Rachel's anxiousness surrounding possibly seeing her birth mother. He couldn't imagine how nervous she must be feeling.

When they finally got there, they had the driver drop them off across the street.

"So what now?" Puck asked as they stood there.

"Do you think we should go in? Act like we want to sign someone up for dance lessons?"

"I don't know, that might be a little weird."

Instead of responding, Rachel started walking towards the building. Silently groaning at her impatience, he followed her. When they were inside the building, Rachel looked around amazed how nice it looked.

A woman at the front desk looked at them. "Hi can I help you?"

Seeing that Rachel was too fascinated by everything, Puck quickly spoke. "Our mom sent us to see about dance classes for our younger sister."

"Oh okay. Well what kind of style would she be interested in?"

As Puck talked, Rachel froze when she came across a photo on the wall of a woman who looked fairly similar to her. "Who's this?"

The secretary looked at her. "That's Shelby Corcoran, she's the owner of the studio."

Puck looked at the picture and was shocked at the resemblance between her and Rachel. There was no doubt that, that was her birth mother.

Suddenly a little girl ran out and went to the secretary. "Amy is my mommy here yet? I want to show her my new dance."

"Not yet but she just called and said she's on her way so she should be here soon." She looked back at Rachel and Puck. "This is one of our dancers, Emma. She's actually Shelby's daughter."

Rachel's stomach dropped. "Her daughter?"

Puck tried to keep his jaw from dropping. The kid didn't look anything like Shelby so it's possible that she adopted her. But he could tell from Rachel's face that she was devastated.

Amy pulled out papers and a brochure and handed them to Puck. "You can take these to your mom in case she decides on enrolling your sister."

"Great thank you for your time," he said as he and Rachel started to walk out. When they were far enough from the studio, he looked at her. "Rachel are you okay?"

"She went and had another kid," she said, staring at the ground.

"I mean it's possible Emma's adopted," he replied trying to make it better.

"Which is even worse. I get that it was a job for my dads but was she never once curious about the baby she gave birth to and gave up right after? Instead she went and got herself a replacement daughter."

"Rachel-"

"Let's just go back to the hotel. I'm not feeling up for sightseeing anymore."

Puck sighed and nodded as they got a cab to take them back. At dinner, everyone noticed Rachel's changed mood but when she had repeatedly said she was fine, they decided not to question her anymore. That night, Puck decided he needed to talk to his mom to further understand Rachel's hurt.

"Mom?" he said, getting her attention as she finished tucking Sara in. "Can I talk to you?"

She nodded before coming out and closing the door. "What's going on?"

As they sat down in the area where Puck was sleeping, he tried to think of how to phrase the question. "When a woman has a kid, is there an immediate attachment? Like were you immediately drawn to me or Sara when you had us?"

Maria thought before answering. "Well before I had you, I was terrified. I was young and had no idea how to take care of a baby but when you were born, I just looked at you and knew that you were meant to be my son. It was like a love I never knew existed. With Sara I wasn't as worried but the same love was there. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious, that's all."

She raised an eyebrow. "This wouldn't have anything to do with how Rachel was acting tonight would it?" When he remained silent she nodded. "If Rachel is curious about her birth mother she could ask her dads, I'm sure they would tell her."

"She's not, it just crossed her mind."

Seeing that Puck wasn't going to say anything more, Maria gave in. "Okay. Well get some rest, we have some fun stuff ahead of us for this vacation. Good night, I love you."

"Love you too."

As she went to her and Sara's room, Puck laid on the couch and stared at the ceiling. No wonder Rachel was so upset. Maybe her birth mom didn't feel that kind of connection when she had Rachel. He had to help make this better for her or it would ruin the entire trip.

 **Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 7

At breakfast the next day, Rachel was noticeably quiet and Puck frowned. He knew the situation with Shelby was eating away at her and he wished he could make it better.

"So what's on the agenda today?" Leroy asked before looking at Puck, Rachel, and Sara. "What do you kids want to do?"

"I want to go to Times Square and take a picture with the characters," Sara said eagerly.

Maria looked at the teenagers. "Noah, Rachel? Anything in particular you want to do?"

When she didn't answer, Puck thought back to when he first met Rachel and she told him some of her favorite things to do in New York. "Well Rachel said that she would teach me to ice skate."

Rachel looked at him confused. "I did?"

He nodded innocently. "Yeah I'm surprised you don't remember."

The adults glanced at each other before looking back at them. Hiram was the first to speak. "Well I guess we'll go with Maria and Sara to Times Square while you two ice skate. Just be careful, especially you Noah."

"No problem Mr. Berry, I'm sure Rachel won't let me hurt myself," he replied. "Right Rach?"

"Uh of course not," she said, still unsure of what was going on. "When we're done should we meet you guys at the bridge since we'll be in the park anyway?"

"Sure sounds like a plan," Maria agreed.

After breakfast, everyone prepared to go off on their separate ways. As Rachel talked to her dads, Maria looked at her son.

"Is this your attempt to make Rachel feel better?" she asked.

"Maybe. Or maybe I really want to learn to ice skate."

She rolled her eyes. "Sure you do. Just be careful please, don't break anything."

"Yeah I know." He looked down at Sara. "Make sure you take some funny pictures. If those characters get handsy you know what to do."

"Try to kick them in their private part," she nodded.

Maria glared at him. "Noah."

"What? At least I didn't tell to her kick them in the balls," he smirked as she rolled her eyes.

Rachel walked over to them. "Ready?"

"Yeah. See you guys later," he told his mom and sister before walking away with Rachel. "So the rink is in the park?"

"Yeah. But what sparked your interest in ice skating? As I recall you told me you were sure that you'd fall on your face so you never wanted to try it."

"Well it's your favorite thing to do here so I figured why not." Seeing that she wasn't buying it, he sighed. "Okay you've been so sad about Shelby and I don't want her to ruin our trip so I figured doing something fun like this would cheer you up."

Rachel smiled. "Thank you, that's very sweet. I tried talking to Sam but he hasn't been answering my texts so I guess his grandfather took his phone."

Puck's stomach dropped at hearing this knowing exactly what Sam was doing. The last thing he wanted to do was to add to Rachel's sadness by telling her what was going on. He knew he had to tell her eventually but now was definitely not the best time.

When they got to the rink at Central Park, Puck could tell that Rachel's mood was lifted as soon as she got on the ice. It was like the problems with Shelby just went away.

"Okay Rachel I know you're an expert at this but I could use some help," he said as he struggled to maintain his balance.

She laughed before skating over to him to help him. "It's all about balance and standing up straight."

As she took his hand, Puck started to be able to slowly move with her. "Oh this isn't so bad."

"Nope. Soon you'll be like that little girl up there," she giggled as she pointed to the child who was skating perfectly without any help.

"Ha ha very funny. How'd you even have time to learn how to do this? I thought your dads had you in a bunch of dance and voice lessons?"

She shrugged. "They thought that while it was important for me to enhance my talents to become a star, they also thought I should have time to be a normal kid. Not that I cared much about that. I loved my dance classes and vocal lessons more than anything."

"Well you're pretty good at this too." He hesitated. What he was about to say next was going to tread into some dangerous territory but he needed to know. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"What do you see in Sam? I mean I know he's my best friend and everything but from an outside point of view, it doesn't seem like he treats you that well."

She thought before answering. "I mean I do see a side of Sam that you guys probably don't get to see. He can be very sweet and thoughtful. One time he took me to the drive-in showing of Grease just because he knew how much I loved it."

Puck remembered this. He also remembered Sam saying that he was doing it to get Rachel to let him touch her boobs. It didn't work and he complained about how unbearable it was to sit through the whole movie. "So you like him because he does stuff a boyfriend should already do."

"No I like him because I've never exactly been a magnet for boys like him. Usually boys pick girls who are the prom queen type, they usually don't go for someone as ambitious and goal-oriented as I am. Sam did and that means something to me."

Puck went quiet as they continued skating. Rachel had no idea what Sam was truly like because he has been putting on an act like he's the perfect one for her. Now that he had upped his deception by cheating on her, it was clear that Sam had no interest in really being with Rachel. He just wanted to see what he could get out of her and it made Puck sick.

When they finally stopped skating, they stood by and watched everyone else skate before they went back to their parents.

"Thank you for today Puck," Rachel told him. "I needed this."

"No problem. But I have to ask, do you want to just give up on talking to Shelby?"

She thought for a moment. "I don't know. I mean what is there to say? She gave me up and then went to get a replacement kid. There's no way to make that better."

"But you don't know the full story. Come on, don't let all the hard work we put into finding her go to waste. You wanted answers, let's get some answers."

Rachel hesitated. She had been wanting to know why Shelby did what she did and it would mean a lot to her to get an answer. "Okay but let's go back tomorrow. I want to enjoy the rest of today."

"You got it," he smiled. "Come on, let's go see if our parents are here."

They left the rink and went to bridge where they found their parents and Sara. As they approached them, they saw that Sara was begging for something.

"Please Mommy? My friends all say it's fun," she begged.

"I'm sure it is honey but Mr. and Mr. Berry wanted to show me some of their favorite sites," Maria told her.

Sara frowned as Puck walked over to them. "What's going on?"

"Sara wants to stay in Central Park to see all the lights but I have plans with Rachel's dads."

"We can take her," Rachel said. "We didn't have plans for tonight anyway, right Puck?"

"Yeah we can take her Mom. You guys go have fun. Maybe find a New Yorker for yourself," he smirked.

Maria rolled her eyes before nodding. "Okay but don't be out here too long and make sure you keep an eye on your sister."

"Of course," he said as she kissed Sara's forehead before walking off with Hiram and Leroy. "Okay kid, let's go."

As the three walked through the park, Puck couldn't help but stare at Rachel at times. She was already beautiful to him and under the lights in the winter night she looked even more beautiful. Sam was surely an idiot who didn't know what a good thing he had.

When they finished with the park and went back to the hotel, Puck put Sara to sleep and went to sit with Rachel.

"So are you ready for tomorrow?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. I want answers and this is the only way I'm going to get them." A moment of silence passed between them. "Today was really great. The ice skating and then tonight was just what I needed. I'm really glad we were able to do this."

He smiled at her. "Me too." She smiled back and feeling himself get lost in the moment, Puck cleared his throat. "We should get some sleep. Got a big day tomorrow."

"Right." They got up and walked towards the door. "Good night."

"Good night," he replied as she walked out. After making sure that she got to her room, Puck closed the door and sighed. He knew this trip was going to make it hard for him to stay strictly friends with Rachel but he couldn't help himself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day, Puck and Rachel stood across the street from Shelby's dance studio. They had told their parents they wanted to go to the wax museum which took away any chance of Sara tagging along because she thought it was creepy. Puck looked over at Rachel who was strangely calm.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah. Let's do this."

He nodded and they crossed the street and went into the studio. The same secretary, Amy, looked up at them and smiled.

"Hey you're back. Mom sign off?" she asked.

"Almost," Puck said. "We just wanted to see what the owner was like so that we know my sister won't be taken advantage of. We've had issues with that in the past."

Amy quickly nodded. "Of course. I think she's teaching a class right now, let me show you."

As they started following her, Rachel looked at Puck and whispered to him. "You're a really good liar."

He shrugged. "I'm just great on the spot."

Once they got to the room, they looked through a large glass window and saw Shelby teaching a class of preteens.

"If you want, you can wait until she's done to talk to her," Amy said. "Let me know if you need anything else."

"Thanks," Puck said as she walked away. As they watched Shelby teach, Puck could tell Rachel was entranced. "What do you think?"

"Well she's an amazing teacher. If we lived here and Sara was actually interested in dancing, I would suggest you enroll her," she rolled her eyes.

He chuckled as they continued to watch. When the class finally ended, the children left the room and Rachel saw the opportunity to go in and talk to Shelby. Without a word, she walked in the room and Puck followed behind her.

As she changed the CD, Shelby looked at her. "Can I help you?"

"Miss Corcoran?" She took a deep breath. "I'm Rachel Berry. I'm your daughter."

The older woman froze. "Oh my God."

"I know how weird this must be but I had to find you and-"

"I don't understand, how did you find me? Where are your fathers, how are you even in New York?" She paused. "The phone call from a few weeks ago about the surveys. Was that you?"

Puck raised his hand. "Technically it was me."

"Puck's been helping me try to find you," Rachel explained. "We're on break from school and came here with my dads and his mom and sister. We thought we'd use this chance to find you so I could meet you."

Shelby was silent for a moment. "I'm honored that you came to find me but you shouldn't be here. Things are the way they are for a reason and I'd rather not be reminded of it."

Rachel felt the same sick feeling in her stomach when she found out about Emma and became angry. "Because of your daughter? The one that you got to replace me?"

"How do you know about Emma?"

"We met her when we came by yesterday," Puck explained.

Shelby looked at Rachel. "Emma's not why I-"

Rachel held her hand up. "No don't bother. Clearly you have no interest in the daughter you just gave up without a second thought. I dreamt of meeting you for a while and I don't even know why now. You're just some woman who had me and gave me away in a minute. I shouldn't have expected anything from you." She started to walk out but turned back around. "You know, my dads are amazing. The best parents a girl could ask for. At least you did something right."

As she walked out, Puck looked at Shelby. "Rachel went through a lot to get the courage to do this so you can imagine her pain right now, if you even care." He wrote down his number on the flier for the studio before handing it to her. "If you decide to show compassion to your daughter, you can call me at this number. We'll be here for the rest of the week."

He walked out and found Rachel crying around the corner. When she heard him approach, she looked up at him. "She…"

As she started crying harder, he pulled her into his arms and held her. "She's missing out on a great person. It's her loss."

"I just want to go back to the hotel."

He nodded and they left. As they sat in the cab, Puck got a text from Sam, showing a picture of him and a blond girl who looked like she was biting his ear. He immediately wanted to reach through the phone and kick the crap out of Sam for thinking this was something to brag about. When Puck looked over at Rachel who was staring out the window, he felt guilt come over him. This was definitely not the time. Rachel just had her heart broken by her mother and now she was going to have to deal with another one eventually but now.

 **Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello everyone!**

Chapter 8

When they got back to the hotel, they saw that their parents and Sara weren't back yet so they hung out in one of the hotel rooms. Rachel hadn't said a word since they left Shelby and Puck hated it.

As they watched TV silently, he looked at her. "Rachel I'm really sorry about all of this."

"It's not your fault my birth mom wants nothing to do with me. I'm sorry I put you through all this trouble. You could've been relaxing at home and I ruined it with this stupid plan."

"Hey the plan wasn't stupid and it's not like I would've been doing anything at home anyway. This trip has actually been a lot of fun." She cracked a small smile. "Are you going to be okay?"

She slowly nodded. "In time. If anything, this just makes me appreciate my dads that much more. Thank you for being here for me throughout all of this."

"Anytime," Puck smiled, not being able to stop himself from looking at her lips. He knew it was wrong but Sam was cheating on her anyway so why shouldn't he be able to make his move?

Puck started to lean in and to his surprise, Rachel was slowly leaning in as well. Before their lips connected the door started to open. They immediately sprung apart and tried to shake off what almost happened as Sara ran in.

"Puck guess what?" she said excitedly. "Mommy is going to sign me up for ballet classes."

"Ballet? Come on kid, I thought you wanted to play football like your big brothers? You know girls can play too."

"Noah you know there is no way I would sign your seven-year-old sister up for football," Maria rolled her eyes. "I didn't even want you playing it. Besides, Rachel's dads said that putting Sara in dance classes would help give her someplace to put all that extra energy she uses to assault the kids in her class."

Rachel laughed. "Well I'm happy for you, Sara. You'll love it."

"Can we afford it though?" Puck asked, unsure of the whole idea. "I mean aren't those lessons expensive?"

"How would you know that?" Maria asked.

Realizing that he only knew the information because they went to Shelby's studio, Puck quickly thought of a lie. "Just talking to Rachel about it."

"Well I talked to your grandmother and she offered to help pay for it. She agreed that Sara should have an extracurricular activity like you do so she's willing to help out."

"That's cool. Congrats kid."

"I'm so excited," Sara smiled before running to the room.

"Oh Rachel your dads wanted me to tell you to get dressed for tonight," Maria told her.

"What's tonight?" Puck asked.

"My dads found a really nice restaurant for all of us to go to," Rachel explained.

"So you get ready too," Maria told him.

Rachel smiled at him before leaving to go back to her room as he went into the bathroom to change. Later that night, the two families were at the restaurant listening to the live band play. Puck had never been in an environment like this but it seemed like it was cheering Rachel up from the day's earlier events.

As everyone ate dinner, Puck felt his cell phone buzz in his pocket. He saw the number had a New York area code so he quickly excused himself and got up to walk outside to answer.

"Hello?"

"Hi I'm looking for someone named Puck?" the unsure voice said.

Recognizing Shelby's voice, he hesitated. "Miss Corcoran?"

"I feel awful about what happened today. I was in shock and I guess I said all the wrong things."

"Yeah I'd say that telling your daughter you don't want to be reminded of her is definitely the wrong thing," he said, not being able to hold back the animosity.

"I want to make it right. You two went through all this trouble to find me and I don't want her to leave without knowing the truth. Would it be possible for you to meet me at the café next to the studio tomorrow at two?"

Puck thought about this. He wasn't sure if he wanted to put Rachel through this again. "I'll see what I can do."

As he hung up, Rachel came outside. "Hey are you okay? Your mom asked me to check on you."

"Yeah, um…" he trailed off.

She raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"Shelby called. She wants to meet with us at the café next to the dance studio at two tomorrow."

"Really?"

"Yeah. How do you feel about that?"

She hesitated as she thought about it. Finally, she nodded. "Yeah I want to do it."

"Are you sure? I mean it's understandable if you don't want to."

"I came here to get answers and I'm not leaving until I do."

Without another word, Rachel walked back into the building leaving Puck standing there hoping that this meeting wouldn't be a mistake.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day, the teenagers found themselves at the café waiting for Shelby. Puck was surprised at how their parents didn't question their excuse that they wanted to go ice skating again but he was glad that he didn't have to think of another lie.

Finally, Shelby walked in. Puck looked at Rachel. "Are you sure you want me to stay?"

She nodded. "Please? You're kind of the only thing keeping me calm right now."

He nodded as Shelby walked over to them. "Thanks for meeting me."

"I came to New York to get answers and I intend to get them," Rachel shrugged.

"First off, I'm sorry about yesterday. I was in shock from meeting you and I said all the wrong things. I just never thought this day would come, I mean I didn't think you'd ever try to find me."

"You didn't?"

Shelby shook her head. "Your dads wanted someone who could give them a baby and let them be the parents so I said yes. They agreed to let you know my name and I left them my phone number just in case but over time I figured that they were such great parents that you didn't really have a need to meet me."

"My dads are great parents and I love them so much but that didn't stop me from being curious about who I came out of." The older woman nodded and looked down. "How'd you do it? How did you carry me for nine months then just give me away to men you didn't really know at the time?"

"When I met your dads, they really did seem like nice people who just wanted to be parents. Plus, don't mention this to them but I used some of the little money I was making at the time to do a criminal background check on them before I inseminated."

Rachel gave a small smile. "They're definitely not criminals."

"So I found out. What they were offering was enough to help me get back on my feet after moving out of my ex's house so I took them up on it. I didn't think it'd be too difficult but all that changed when I got to hold you. It wasn't long but I can never forget it." She smiled at the memory. "You looked up at me with those big brown eyes and I wanted nothing more than to take you home. But I knew it wouldn't be fair to your dads. I gave them my word and I couldn't go back on that. So they came in and took you away."

"That sounds hard," Rachel frowned.

"Very. For years, I thought about you constantly, wondering what you were like and how you were doing. It got to a point where I couldn't take it anymore so I moved here to New York. And I know you think I adopted Emma to replace you but it's not true. I failed at becoming an actress and I just wanted a purpose. My neighbor told me about her friend's teenaged daughter who was pregnant and wanted to give her child up for adoption so I decided that was my purpose. To be her mother." She wiped away a tear that was falling. "My biggest regret was not being able to care for you and seeing you here after all this time just reminded me of what I missed out on."

Rachel hesitated before speaking. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Don't be," Shelby shook her head. "Like you said, you have great dads which is all I really wanted for you in the end. I'm happy with the job they've done with you."

Puck smiled the sight in front of him. "You know, Rachel's pretty talented herself. Her dads put her in a bunch of dance and voice classes when she was a kid and she's a really great singer."

"Really." Shelby smiled, looking at Rachel. "Well I'll have to hear you perform sometime."

"What about tonight?" Puck suggested. "I'm sure our parents wouldn't mind us going to an open mic place, right?"

"Yeah my dads are always open to me performing places," Rachel nodded.

Shelby thought about it. "Okay. I'll call Emma's sitter and we can go to that place the next block over."

Rachel smiled. "Perfect."

When they got back to the hotel and explained their plans for the evening with their parents, Maria frowned.

"I know you two want to have some independence on this trip but don't you think you've been doing a lot of running around these past few days?" she asked.

Puck nodded. "Yeah but isn't that the point of the trip? Come on, Mom we'd ask you all to come with us but the place is a little too mature for Sara."

"And dads you always say New York is the best place to perform," Rachel told them.

Leroy nodded. "We did but sweetheart this is supposed to be a family vacation. We're only here for two more days."

"It's not like we haven't all been doing things together and besides we still have two days which we will spend with you completely. Can we please just have this night?"

The two men sighed before Hiram looked at Maria. "We're okay with it if you are."

Maria looked at the teenagers' pleading faces before giving in. "Okay. But the next two days you two are with us all day."

"Got it," they nodded before kissing their parents goodbye and leaving.

When the two got to the open mic, they found Shelby at a table. They went to greet her before Rachel went to go and sign up to perform. As they watched other performers, she started to get nervous at the thought of performing in front of her birth mother but when Puck gave her an encouraging smile, the nerves went away.

Her name was called and she went onstage. When she found Puck and Shelby in the crowd, she smiled as the music began.

 _I see ya blowin' me a kiss  
It doesn't take a scientist  
To understand what's going on baby  
If you see something in my eye  
Let's not over analyze  
Don't go too deep with it baby_

 _So let it be what it'll be_  
 _Don't make a fuss and get crazy over you and me_  
 _Here's what I'll do_  
 _I'll play loose_  
 _Not like we have a date with destiny_

 _It's just a little crush (crush)_  
 _Not like I faint every time we touch_  
 _It's just some little thing (crush)_  
 _Not like everything I do depends on you_  
 _Sha-la-la-la, Sha-la-la-la_

As she sang, Puck couldn't take his eyes off of her. She had the confidence and sass to go with the song and the audience loved it.

 _It's raising my adrenaline  
You're banging on a heart of tin  
Please don't make too much of it baby  
You say the word "forevermore"  
That's not what I'm looking for  
All I can commit to is "maybe"_

 _So let it be what it'll be_  
 _Don't make a fuss and get crazy over you and me_  
 _Here's what I'll do_  
 _I'll pay loose_  
 _Not like we have a date with destiny_

 _It's just a little crush (crush)_  
 _Not like I faint every time we touch_  
 _It's just some little thing (crush)_  
 _Not like everything I do depends on you_  
 _Sha-la-la-la, Sha-la-la-la_

As she came upon the bridge, Rachel stared at Puck and he was engrossed in the performance.

 _Vanilla skies (vanilla skies)  
White picket fences in your eyes  
A vision of you and me_

 _It's just a little crush (crush)_  
 _Not like I faint every time we touch_  
 _It's just some little thing (crush)_  
 _Not like everything I do depends on you_  
 _Sha-la-la-la_  
 _Not like I faint every time we touch_  
 _It's just some little thing_  
 _Not like everything I do depends on you_  
 _Sha-la-la-la_  
 _Not like I faint every time we touch_  
 _It's just some little thing_  
 _Not like everything I do_  
 _Depends on you_

The audience cheered as she left the stage and went back to the table with Puck and Shelby.

"Wow," Shelby said. "You remind me of myself when I was your age."

"That's good, right?" she asked, nervously.

"Yes of course," the older woman laughed.

Puck smiled. "That was amazing Rachel."

"Thank you," she smiled back before she began talking to Shelby.

As he watched her talk, Puck realized his crush might be getting to be too much for him. He wanted to expose Sam for the ass that he is and not only so Rachel could know the truth but also so he could have his chance with her. He felt selfish for wanting this but watching Rachel handle everything with Shelby made him like her even more. Now that the trip was almost over, it might be time to put some distance between them so his feelings don't get out of hand.

 **Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 9

A few days later, Puck was happy to be in his own bed rather than the sofa bed he had at the hotel. The last two days they spent in New York was filled with nothing but family time, not that he minded. That was less time he had to spend alone with Rachel and make his feelings grow stronger for her.

As he laid on his bed staring at the ceiling, Puck heard Sara yell, "Jake's back!"

He got up and went downstairs to greet his brother. "Welcome back bro."

"How's your mom?" Maria asked, hugging him.

"Great. Grandma not so great but they were happy to see me," he smiled slightly before pulling out a check and handing it to her. "My mom said this is for you. She said it can't be easy feeding two teenage boys so she hopes this helps."

Maria looked at the check and smiled. "This certainly does help. Speaking of feeding, I'd better go to the grocery store so we're not eating takeout again tonight. Sara want to come with me?"

She nodded and grabbed her coat before leaving with her mother. Jake turned to his brother. "So how was New York?"

"A little too great," he said, sitting on the couch in the living room. "Don't tell anyone but I helped Rachel find her birth mom."

"You what?"

"Yeah I know it was risky but she wanted to know who she was and I wanted to help her. Anyway, we found her but the more time we spent together, the more I wanted to just say screw Sam and be with her."

"So she doesn't know about Sam's plans?"

Puck pulled out his phone and showed Jake the picture Sam had sent him. "Nope. Sam sent me this when we were together and I just couldn't do it."

"You know she's going to find out eventually."

"Not from me. I'll just pretend like I knew nothing about it."

Choosing not to argue with his brother, Jake simply shook his head and went to unpack while Puck sat downstairs thinking about everything. He knew he shouldn't be keeping this a secret but he didn't want to be the one to break Rachel's heart.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When they went back to school, Puck kept a lookout for Rachel. He hadn't talked to her at all since they returned and he was sure she noticed. When he was at his locker, Sam and Finn walked over to him.

"Hey how was your trip?" Finn asked.

"It was pretty good. New York is a cool place."

"Yeah Rachel is in love with it," Sam said. "Did you guys get my picture?"

"Yeah and the fact that you think that's something to brag about makes you an even bigger ass," Puck said. "You are aware I was with Rachel, right? What if she had looked over and saw my phone?"

He shrugged. "Let's just be grateful she didn't. Honestly it was a big relief. Since Rachel's not giving it up I had to go get it from somewhere else."

"I don't get it, if you're not happy why not just break up with her?" Finn asked.

"I mean Rachel's still hot. I see how she is when we make out, it won't be long before she's ready to give it up."

Puck slammed his locker closed. "You know, Rachel's a really great girl. You don't have to be such a dick."

Sam laughed. "Woah what's your problem? You live for one night stands."

"I don't have a girlfriend. I spent a lot of time with Rachel over break and she doesn't deserve what you're doing."

"Well it's not really your business what I do with my girlfriend," he said, stepping closer.

Not intimidated, Puck stepped closer as well. "It is when you keep bragging to us about it."

"Guys," Finn interrupted, motioning behind them.

Puck turned around and saw Rachel approaching them. "Hey guys." She kissed Sam and looked at them. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah we're good," Sam replied before looking at her. "Come on, I'll walk you to class."

"Actually, I needed to talk to Puck about something from our vacation." He shrugged before kissing her on the cheek and walking away with Finn. Rachel looked back at Puck who was still tense. "Are you sure everything is okay?"

"Fine," he replied with no emotion.

"Okay then can you explain why you're avoiding me?"

"Who said I'm avoiding you?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not an idiot Puck. Did I do or say something wrong when we were in New York?"

He sighed. "No you didn't. I just needed some space."

"So we're still friends?"

Trying to ignore the word, he forced a smile. "Yeah we're still friends."

"Great because I needed your help with something. I never got Sam a gift for the holidays and I was wondering if you had any idea of what I could get him."

Puck thought for a moment. It was hard to think of something actually good when all he wanted to tell her was to get him nothing. "Why not sing to him? Your voice is really special and I'm sure he'd love a performance from you."

She thought before nodding. "That's perfect. I'll just need you to get him to the auditorium at three on Friday."

"Will do," he nodded.

She smiled at him before walking to class. When she was far enough away, Puck groaned and kicked a locker. He wasn't sure how much longer he could pretend that nothing was happening.

That night, he barged into Jake's bedroom and immediately started ranting.

"Okay so you know how I wasn't trying to get involved? I can't do that anymore. Rachel wants to sing a song for Sam now because she never got him a gift and I want to tell her he doesn't deserve it because he's a lying, cheating asshole. But I know if I tell her, I'll be considered the ass which I don't want. I just don't know how much longer I can take this." When he finally finished talking, he looked up to see the shocked faces of Jake and a brunette girl. "Oh. You have company."

"Puck this is Marley," Jake said. "Marley this is my brother, Puck."

"Nice to meet you," she smiled.

"Likewise, I've heard a lot about you," Puck nodded. "Sorry for just barging in here like that, I didn't know."

"That's okay we were just studying," she said. "But can I offer you some advice?"

"Please."

"If it were me, I'd want to know. If she finds out on her own then finds out you knew what was happening the entire time, she'll feel even more embarrassed. Plus, it sounds like you really like her."

Jake smirked. "He's practically in love with her."

Marley laughed at the glare Puck gave Jake. "Well then you should definitely tell her. That way you can be the one to cheer her up."

"Right," he nodded before looking at Jake. "She's smart bro, ask her out."

"Okay you can leave Puck," Jake said.

Puck laughed as he left, closing the door behind him. Marley was right, he needed to tell Rachel the truth and hopefully she wouldn't be too mad at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time Friday came, Puck was freaking out. He had tried the whole week to talk to Rachel but she was constantly busy with school, glee rehearsal, and Sam. No matter how hard he tried to get her attention, she always had to run off somewhere. Now he was supposed to be getting Sam to the auditorium for the performance but he really just wanted to talk to her first.

When he got to the auditorium, he found Rachel setting up. She looked at him. "Hey where's Sam?"

"Yeah I needed to talk to you about that," he said as he approached her. "I don't think this performance is a good idea."

She looked at him confused. "Why not?"

"Sam isn't who you think he is."

"Puck I know you don't understand my relationship with Sam because you don't see him the way I do but that doesn't mean that I don't know him."

"No that's not where I'm going with this. You see-"

"Hey can one of you help us tune this stuff?" one of the musicians asked.

"Can you do it?" Rachel asked Puck. "I need to do my vocal warmups."

He sighed and nodded before removing his jacket and putting on a chair and walking over to the musicians. Rachel started her warmups and walked around when she got the idea to text Sam from Puck's phone so he'd come to the auditorium. Making sure that Puck wasn't paying attention, she went into the pocket and pulled out his phone. When she went to Puck and Sam's conversation, she froze when she saw the picture Sam had sent.

Rachel looked back at Puck before sending a quick message to Sam to come to the auditorium. Minutes later, Sam walked through the door.

"Hey what's going on?" he asked.

Puck looked at him, confused. "Hey, you're here."

"Yeah you texted me and told me to come."

Realizing he never sent a message, Puck looked at Rachel who was whispering something to the band. "Rachel?"

"I think we're ready now," she replied, ignoring him and looking at Sam. "I never got to give you a gift for the holidays so I wanted to do this to make up for it. If you'll come up here and have a seat on this stool. Puck you can either stand in the wings or sit in the audience."

He hesitated before going to stand in the wings as Sam sat on the stool. Puck didn't know what was happening but he had a feeling it wasn't about to be good. The music started and Rachel stood at the mic stand staring Sam down.

 _Ohh, how about a round of applause,  
Hey, standin' ovation,  
Ooh ohh yeah, yeah yeah yeah._

 _You look so dumb right now,_  
 _Standin' outside my house,_  
 _Tryin' to apologize,_  
 _You're so ugly when you cry,_  
 _Please, just cut it out._

 _Don't tell me you're sorry 'cause you're not,_  
 _Baby when I know you're only sorry you got caught,_  
 _But you put on quite a show (oh),_  
 _You really had me goin',_  
 _But now it's time to go (oh),_  
 _Curtain's finally closin',_  
 _That was quite a show (oh),_  
 _Very entertainin',_  
 _But it's over now (but it's over now),_  
 _Go on and Take A Bow, ohh ohh._

Puck hung his head. Rachel knew about Sam cheating on her and probably that he knew about it the whole time.

 _Grab your clothes and get gone (get gone),_  
 _You better hurry up before the sprinklers come on (come on),_  
 _Talkin' 'bout girl, I love you, you're the one,_  
 _This just looks like a re-run,_  
 _Please, what else is on._

 _And don't tell me you're sorry 'cause you're not (mmm),_  
 _Baby when I know you're only sorry you got caught (mmm),_  
 _But you put on quite a show (oh),_  
 _You really had me goin',_  
 _But now it's time to go (oh),_  
 _Curtain's finally closin',_  
 _That was quite a show (oh),_  
 _Very entertainin',_  
 _But it's over now (but it's over now),_  
 _Go on and take a bow, ohh._

Rachel took the mic off the stand and walked to stand directly in front of Sam.

 _And the award for the best liar goes to you (goes to you),  
For makin' me believe that you could be faithful to me,  
Let's hear your speech out._

Sam glared at Puck, furious with him but Puck didn't care. He could hear the pain in Rachel's voice and wanted nothing more than to take all of it away from her.

 _(But you put on quite a show  
You really had me goin'),  
But now it's time to go (oh),  
Curtain's finally closin',  
That was quite a show (oh),  
Very entertainin',  
But it's over now (but it's over now),  
Go on and take a bow._

 _But it's over now..._

"Rachel," Sam started but she held her hand up to stop him. He looked over at Puck. "You told her."

Before he could speak she cut him off. "No he didn't. I went in his phone to tell you to come to the auditorium so you wouldn't be suspicious and I saw the picture. So all that stuff about your grandfather being strict and not letting you have your phone was all a lie."

"Look babe-"

"Don't call me that," she said in a tone that Puck couldn't recognize. He was used to her having a sweet tone in her voice but now, it was like she went stone cold. "I'm not your babe. I'm not anything to you."

Without another word, Rachel turned to look at Puck for a moment before walking out with tears streaming down her face.

Sam looked at Puck. "Well I wasn't expecting that."

Not being able to hold himself back anymore, Puck went over to Sam and punched in square in the jaw before getting on top of him to do more damage. Jake walked in and quickly ran to the stage to break up the fight.

"Puck stop!" he said, pulling him off Sam. "I just saw Rachel run out of here in tears, what the hell is going on?"

"She knows," Puck simply stated before grabbing his jacket and leaving the auditorium. His friendship with Sam was over but that's not who he cared about. He didn't know if Rachel would be able to forgive him for not telling her sooner or if she would ever speak to him again but he did know one thing: Rachel's heart was officially broken.

 **Let me know your thoughts! Song is Glee's cover of Take a Bow. Bye for now :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello everyone and happy holidays! Enjoy!**

Chapter 10

Puck spent the whole weekend trying to get ahold of Rachel but she turned her phone off. Finn tried to call him to understand what happened between him and Sam but he didn't have time to think about that. When Monday came and she wasn't even in school, Puck felt even worse. Rachel was shutting out everyone, including him and he hated it.

"Dude you can't keep waiting by the phone," Jake said, entering his room after school. "You'll only drive yourself crazy."

"I can't help it. Rachel is probably feeling like crap right now and it's my fault."

He shook his head. "You're not the one that cheated on her, Sam did."

"Yeah but I knew about it and didn't tell her. She probably saw the time Sam sent me that picture and realized I kept it from her the entire trip. She probably hates me too."

"Look Rachel just found out her boyfriend cheated on her. She probably has a million thoughts going through her mind right now and can't even think straight enough to be pissed at you."

Puck shook his head and got up to grab his coat. "I'm going over there."

"You sure that's a good idea?"

"I guess I'll found out. Watch Sara," he said, walking out.

As he drove over to Rachel's house, Puck tried to think of what he could say to her to make things better but he knew there was nothing he could say to erase what Sam did. When he got there, he found Kurt and Mercedes walking out.

"What are you doing here?" Mercedes asked, clearly angry with him.

"Yeah shouldn't you be high-fiving your friend?" Kurt followed. "He played her and you stood around and watched."

"It's not like that," Puck replied defensively. "Look it's a lot more complicated than that and I need to talk to her."

Mercedes shook her head. "She doesn't want to speak to anyone, especially you. You were supposed to be her friend; how could you not tell her what he was doing?"

"Believe me, I wanted to tell her but come on when is there ever a right moment to tell your friend her boyfriend is cheating on her?"

"Any time would've been better than when she did," Kurt answered before sighing. "Look I doubt Rachel is going to feel up to talking to you seeing how she barely talked to us. But if you want to try knock yourself out. Just know that her dads will be home soon and they know everything."

"Crap," Puck mumbled before nodding and walking up to the door. He knocked and waited for what seemed like forever. A few seconds after knocking again, the door finally opened.

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked with no emotion.

Puck frowned from seeing her red eyes from crying. "You turned your phone off and I haven't been able to reach you so I had to come here. I understand if you hate me but please hear me out."

A moment of silence passed between them before Rachel finally spoke. "I don't hate you."

Before he could respond, she opened the door further to let him in. They walked into the living room and he sat down on the chair as she curled up in a blanket in the couch across from him.

He took a deep breath. "Rachel I am so incredibly, deeply sorry that I didn't tell you about Sam. I should have and-"

"When I was about to perform for Sam, were you trying to tell me?" she quietly asked. He nodded. "And when we were about to go on vacation you wanted to tell me something but said you were just glad that we got to go to New York together. Were you trying to tell me then?"

"Yeah but I couldn't do it."

"And when we were ice skating and you were asking about what I see in Sam. You were asking because you knew he was cheating?"

He nodded. "Yes. Rachel-"

"How long has he been doing this?" she asked, refusing to look at him.

"As far as I know it was only over break."

"You tried to tell me. Why couldn't you?"

He sighed. "I didn't want to hurt you. You liked Sam so much and I knew it would crush you if you knew."

"Yeah well you were right." She sniffed as a tear slid down her cheek. "I feel like such an idiot. How could I not see it? You tried to get me to see that he wasn't the guy for me but I didn't want to listen."

"Why would you? This is a guy that you really cared about, I understand you not wanting to listen to me."

Rachel paused. "Is that why you were avoiding me when we got back from break?"

Puck froze, unsure of how to answer. This wasn't the time for his feelings for her to come up but he also didn't want to lie to her. "Kind of."

"Kind of?" she raised an eyebrow.

"It's complicated."

"Complicated how?" When he remained silent, Rachel rolled her eyes. "Puck I'm really not in the mood for anymore secrets. Tell me the truth."

"It's really not the right time for this-"

"Puck," she demanded.

He sighed. Looks like he had no other choice. "I was avoiding you because I started wanting to tell you the truth about Sam for the wrong reasons."

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"I didn't want to tell you about Sam just so you could know the truth about him." He looked away from her before he continued. "I wanted to tell you so that you would break up with him then I would have a chance to be with you."

Once the words left his mouth, Puck felt like a ten-pound weight had been lifted off of him. His feelings had just been released to someone other than Jake and now Rachel had to decide what to do with it. But the silence that came over them worried him. When he finally looked at her, Rachel stared back at him.

"You…like me?" she hesitantly asked.

He nodded. "Yes. A lot."

Before she could respond, the front door opened and Hiram and Leroy walked in.

"Noah," Hiram said. "We didn't think we'd be seeing you anymore."

"Dad relax," Rachel told him. "He's been trying to tell me the truth about Sam for a while. I just never wanted to see the truth."

"If it helps, he has a nice black eye now," Puck said, looking at Rachel. "After you left the auditorium, I kind of let him have it. Jake had to break us up."

Leroy smirked. "As much as I don't condone violence the punk deserved it. We never liked him anyway."

"Dad," Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Well will you be staying for dinner, Noah?" Hiram asked.

He shook his head. "No, I think I should give Rachel some space to process everything."

"No," she quickly said. He looked at her, confused. "Stay. Please."

Shocked, he hesitantly nodded. "Okay let me just text my mom."

As he sent Maria a text to tell her his plans, Puck couldn't help but feel nervous about the conversation he had to have with Rachel. He should've known there was no way she would let him leave after what he just admitted.

"Well I guess you two can go hang out and we'll let you know when dinner is ready," Leroy told them.

The teenagers nodded and went to the back to sit on the porch swing. After a moment of silence, Rachel spoke. "How long have you…"

"Since we met," he answered, knowing what she meant. "I wanted to ask you out but before I could you already accepted a date with Sam."

"So this whole time you've been giving me advice about Sam and letting me confide in you while having these feelings?"

He shrugged. "You were happy with Sam and I couldn't ruin that for my own selfish gain. So when Sam told me what he was going to do over break, I knew that would've been the perfect opening for me."

"So why didn't you take it?" she asked.

Puck thought for a moment. "I didn't want to get you that way. It wouldn't feel genuine. I wasn't even expecting to tell you now but you asked."

"Puck-"

"Look I get if you don't feel the same but you needed to know and-"

She took his hands in hers. "Puck stop. To be honest, I think I've felt the same way since we went to New York and went through all that stuff with Shelby. I wasn't sure about it because I still had Sam but when I found out what he did and how you knew I was just so confused about everything."

"It's okay." He sighed. "Look you just broke up with a guy that you really liked. I don't want to be a rebound so I think after tonight we need to give each other some space so we can deal with everything. When you have a clear head, we can revisit the topic of whatever is going on with us."

After she thought about it, Rachel nodded. "Deal."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For the next two weeks, Puck stayed away from Rachel and he hated it. Even though it was his idea, that didn't mean he enjoyed being away from her. He just hoped that she wouldn't come to the conclusion that she really didn't like him.

"Earth to Puck," Finn said, snapping Puck out of his thoughts at Finn's house after school.

"What?"

"I asked when are you and Sam going to let go of whatever happened with you guys?" he repeated.

Puck shrugged. "I don't know, once he stops being an asshole who cares about no one but himself."

Before Finn could respond, the doorbell rang and he went to answer it. When he walked back in with Sam behind him, Finn looked at his two friends. "Look whatever is going on you guys need to get over it."

"He's the one that went crazy on my face," Sam replied.

Puck shook his head. "Because you deserved it for doing that to Rachel."

"Why do you care so much? If I didn't know any better, I would think you had a crush on her or something."

"I doubt that," Finn said, looking at Puck. "Right?"

Puck thought for a moment. Whether or not Rachel truly reciprocated his feelings, that didn't change how he felt about her. He had held it in for long enough, it was time to let it go. "Yeah I do."

Sam let out a snort. "What?"

"I like Rachel. A lot actually. In fact, I've liked her since we met."

Finn looked at him. "Wait seriously? Why didn't you ever say anything?"

"Sam got to her first and I didn't want to mess it up. But since he managed to do it on his own, I have a shot now."

"I knew Rachel finding out wasn't just by chance," Sam replied. "You let her find out because you wanted all of this to happen."

Puck shrugged. "Think what you want, I really don't care. All I know is I didn't make you cheat, you did that all your own. So the fact that I have a chance is actually all because of you so thanks for that."

Sam tried to lunge at him but Finn held him back before looking at Puck. "Dude seriously?"

"I'm out of here," he said, grabbing his jacket and walking out. The last thing he cared about was Sam being pissed at him. He had already come to terms with losing his friendship but at the end of the day it was probably for the best.

When he pulled up in front of his house, he was surprised to find Rachel waiting outside. He got out and went over to her.

"Hi," she said.

"Hey. What are you doing out here, it's freezing?"

"No one is home and I knew if I didn't stay here to get all this out I would never do it." She took a breath. "I did what you said and thought about everything."

"Let's get you inside first," he said, opening the door.

"Puck please. You said to make this decision with a clear head and I have."

"And?"

Instead of responding, Rachel leaned in and gently kissed him. When they pulled away, she looked at him. "And I'm here."

Puck smiled before taking her hand and leading her inside. While his friendship with Sam might've been over, looks like he had a new beginning with Rachel.

 **Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 11

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Rachel asked as they sat together on the couch. "I mean, your friendship with Sam will probably be over."

"It's been over for a while. Besides I think that punching him in the face was a good way to end it officially," he shrugged.

She rolled her eyes. "Don't think I forgot about that. You know I don't condone violence, even if he did deserve it."

"Yeah but I think you'll get over it."

"And why do you think that?"

He leaned in and kissed her. "Because you can't be mad at me when I do that."

Before she could respond, he kissed her again as the door opened and Jake walked in. "Wow I clearly missed something."

Puck laughed. "Rachel and I are together."

"Obviously," he smirked. "Congratulations though. It's about time."

As he went upstairs, Rachel looked at Puck. "Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

She hesitated before speaking. "When I talked to you about Sam pressuring me to have sex, were you giving me that advice as someone who liked me and wanted me to break up with him or was that strictly as my friend?"

"Honestly?" She nodded. "A little bit of both. I knew that if you did, that would definitely limit my chances of being with you but I also couldn't directly sabotage your relationship."

She stared at him in admiration. "You really wanted to do this the right way didn't you?"

"Yes and I see it paid off after all," he smiled. "Why did you ask in the first place?"

Rachel looked down. "I know you and Sam and Finn talk about girls and sex just like other teenage boys do. I guess I just wanted to know if I would run into the same issue with you that I had with Sam."

"No of course not," Puck shook his head. "I would never pressure you like that. Look the last thing I'm going to do is repeat the same mistakes Sam made. You deserve better and that's what I plan on giving you. Okay?"

"Okay," she smiled and nodded.

The next day, Puck was actually happy to go to school. He got to see Rachel and make it known that they were together which is all he's wanted to do since he met her. Jake noticed his brother's excitement and laughed.

"Relax bro she'll still be your girlfriend if you don't get to her by first period," he said as they walked into the building.

"Shut up. You'll know how it feels if you ever get the balls to ask Marley out."

"Actually, I'll be doing that very soon. Once I figure out how."

Puck shrugged. "Just be simple with it, doesn't have to be elaborate."

"Guess you're right." As he turned the corner, Jake froze at the sight in front of him. "Hey does Sam know you guys are together?"

"Doubt it," Puck said, walking up next to him. "It only became official yesterday. Why?"

"That's why," the younger Puckerman said, pointing to Sam trying to talk to Rachel at her locker.

Puck immediately walked over to them. "Hey Sam. Still got that bruise huh?"

"It's going away," he replied before looking at Rachel. "I was just telling Rachel how sorry I am for what I did. Maybe she'll be willing to give me another chance."

"Actually that won't be happening. We're together now."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? You two?"

"Yeah we just made it official yesterday," Rachel replied.

"Wow that was fast," he said before looking at Puck. "You waited two seconds before going after my leftovers. You realize that she's just using you to get over me, right?"

"Try two weeks and considering how she dumped you, I'd say you're her leftovers. Besides there's nothing to really get over."

"Guys stop," Rachel tried but she was ignored.

"You really think we didn't have good times?" Sam asked. "The dates, the concerts. The hot makeout sessions. Rachel was in love with me."

"Yeah, and it was all fake and she knows that. Right?" Puck asked her.

Rachel froze before shaking her head and walking away. Sam looked at Puck and smirked. "I appreciate the competition but whatever you think is going on with you two is clearly not reciprocated."

He walked away as Jake walked over to his brother. "Well that was intense."

"She didn't answer," Puck said. "Does she seriously still think they had something real?"

"Well they did date for over six months. Of course she's going to believe that parts of their relationship was real. Besides why does that matter if she picked you in the end?"

"I don't know," he answered as the bell rang. He sighed as he started to walk to class.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

During free period, Puck went to the choir room and found Rachel playing the piano and humming to herself.

"Hey," he said, causing her to jump. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's okay. What are you doing here? I thought you'd be in the gym or something."

"No I wanted to spend this time with you and talk to you about this morning," he said as he stood at the piano. "Are you mad?"

"That you stood there and argued with Sam like I wasn't even there? Yes I guess you can say that I'm upset about that."

He sighed. "I'm sorry I just hate that, that asshole thinks any part of your relationship was real when he wasn't even acting like himself most of the time."

She groaned in frustration. "Can you stop saying that? I have enough of a hard time trying to figure out what was real between us and what wasn't, I really don't need your help."

Shocked by her anger, Puck hesitantly nodded. "Sorry."

"Look I really like you Puck. But I did date Sam and it does suck that I was lied to throughout the relationship. It makes me afraid that you'll do the same thing."

He quickly shook his head. "That's not going to happen. I'm a lot of things but cruel isn't one of them." He sighed. "I just thought you were over him."

"I am but in addition to being heartbroken, I was humiliated. And to make matters worse, it was all in front of you. You probably thought I was an idiot the whole time that I didn't see the signs."

Understanding her feelings, Puck sat down next to her on the bench and took her hands in his. "I didn't think you were an idiot. I just thought that you just really liked him and couldn't see the signs. That doesn't make me think any less of you. If anything, it made me want to be with you more so I could show you what a real relationship is."

Rachel thought about this and smiled. "Well I guess now you can. Just please no more showdowns with Sam. Let our relationship speak for itself."

"Deal," he said before bringing his hand up to her cheek and kissing her. When he pulled away, he smiled at her. "So can I take you on our first official date tonight?"

"Sure," she smiled as Kurt and Mercedes walked in. "I'll see you later then?"

"Absolutely," he replied before kissing her cheek and leaving.

Kurt looked at her. "So the rumors are true."

"What rumors?"

"That you and Puck are together," Mercedes answered.

"Oh then yeah I guess so." Seeing the look on their faces, Rachel frowned. "What?"

"Have you thought about this?" Kurt asked. "I mean the guy watched his best friend cheat on you and didn't even tell you. How do you know he won't do the same to you?"

"He tried to tell me I just never wanted to listen. And Puck isn't that kind of guy, he is actually really sweet."

"Still, are you not concerned about what everyone is saying about it?" Mercedes asked.

Rachel shook her head. "No you guys know I don't care what other people think of me. Why, what have you heard?"

Kurt hesitated. "People are saying that you get around and it's only a matter of time before you break up with Puck and date Finn then dump him and date someone else on the football team."

"So a girl can't be allowed to move on from a cheating boyfriend?"

"Of course you can but with his best friend and two weeks later?" Mercedes asked. "That makes it seem like Sam wasn't the only one cheating."

The bell rang, ending free period and Kurt looked at Rachel. "Look we're your friends and we know who you are. If you want to be with Puck and he makes you happy then go for it. But-"

"If you're still not completely sure about how you feel it's completely understandable," Mercedes finished before walking out of the room with Kurt.

Rachel sighed to herself as she got ready to go to her next class. She hated that people were already talking about her and Puck's relationship. She thought she made her decision already about wanting to be with Puck but maybe that wasn't the right decision after all.

 **Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 12

After school, Rachel sat in the auditorium trying to practice for glee club but she couldn't bring herself to sing anything. All day she had been feeling guilty about having second thoughts about her relationship with Puck but she wasn't sure what she should do.

While she hummed to herself, Jake walked in. "Hey there you are. Puck's looking for you, he wanted to see if you had any requests for your date."

"How angry do you think he'd be if I cancelled?"

"Uh probably not too angry. You know he has a soft spot for you," he smirked but when he saw Rachel's face, he frowned. "Are you okay?"

"Have you heard the awful rumors people are making up about me?" When Jake remained silent, she sighed. "Everyone is saying that I was cheating on Sam."

Confused, he sat down next to her. "Why would they think that?"

"Apparently dating his best friend two weeks later makes it look like we had something going on before we broke up."

"I mean you know you didn't so why let it bother you?"

Rachel hesitated. "When we were in New York, Noah and I had some moments and one time we almost kissed. If his mom and Sara hadn't walked in, we probably would've. Then I would've been cheating just like Sam. What does that say about me?"

He thought about it. "That you're human and get caught up in moments just like everyone else does sometimes. Look, we both know who you are. You're not someone who sets out to do stuff like that. Sam is. That makes you the better person."

"Even if I've been having second thoughts about being with Puck all day?"

"Can I be honest?" She nodded. "I don't think you've been having second thoughts about being with him. I mean that's what you took the two weeks to decide in the first place and I'm sure you wouldn't have gone to him if you still weren't sure."

"So why do I feel like this?" she sighed.

He shrugged. "I think it's just that you're hearing other people weigh in on what they think about your relationship and you're letting it get to you. I'm sure you didn't start having second thoughts until you heard the rumors, right?"

"Right."

"Sometimes you just have to say screw everyone else. You know the facts, they don't. Besides if Puck hears anyone talking crap about you guys he'll kick their ass just like he did Sam."

She laughed. "Yes I guess you're right. Thanks Jake."

"Anytime. Now I suggest you go find Puck before he starts realizing you're avoiding him."

Rachel nodded as they got up and left the auditorium. When she found Puck at his locker, she walked over to him and kissed him.

When they pulled away, he looked at her. "Hello to you too."

"Jake told me you were looking for me so here I am," she smiled.

"Yeah I was. Especially after I heard what everyone has been saying."

She frowned. "Oh so you already know."

"Hey our relationship is no one's business but ours. Doesn't mean I won't be giving threats here and there."

"Of course," she rolled her eyes. "But I don't want to think about that. We have our first date tonight and that's what I want to focus on."

"You got it," he smiled, putting an arm around her before walking out of the school.

Later that night, Puck took Rachel to Breadstix. As they ate dinner, it seemed like the issues from school disappeared. They were able to enjoy their time together and forget the drama that's been happening.

"So how did your dads react when you told them we were together?" Puck asked.

"Well they were surprised at first but then said it makes sense given how we were on vacation. They figured it was only going to be a matter of time before we got together. I think overall they're happy for us. What about your mom?"

"She said it was about time," he smirked. "I guess she noticed something on vacation too. Hell, I think Sara even noticed."

She giggled. "Yeah I guess we weren't very subtle were we?"

"Guess not," he shook his head.

Neither noticed Santana walk in and come over to them. "Well I was hoping I heard wrong but I guess the rumors are true. You're actually with Sam's leftovers."

"Back off Santana," he said. "Don't you have a football player to fuck?"

"Well I thought I did. You never did call me back so we could have that all-nighter and I guess she's why. You were too busy fucking her behind Sam's back."

"That's not what happened and frankly it's none of your business. Can you just go away and let us enjoy our date?"

"Fine but when you get bored with her because she won't let you touch her, you know where to find me," she winked before walking away.

He shook his head before continuing to eat. When he noticed the look on Rachel's face, he frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Did you have sex with her?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "But it was a while back."

"How far back?" she asked.

Not understanding where she was going with this, Puck hesitated. "Sam's party." She frowned and realizing she was upset, he tried to take her hand. "Rachel it was while you and Sam were dating, it's really not a big deal."

She pulled her hand away. "But you had feelings for me. How could you have sex with Santana but have feelings for me at the same time?"

"Rach I'm still a guy. Yeah I had feelings for you then but at the time you were dating another guy so that doesn't mean I can't have my own fun."

She groaned. "Is that all you guys are obsessed with? Sex? I mean it's bad enough Sam constantly pressured me then ended up cheating on me to get it then I find out that you slept with someone like her. All you guys care about is sex and I'm sorry but that's just not something you'll be getting from me."

She got up and grabbed her purse before walking out of the restaurant, leaving Puck confused about what just happened. Everything was going great until Santana came up then it was like anything he said was being used against him. Looks like dating Rachel was going to be more work than he anticipated.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rachel sat in her room, curled up in her blanket as she thought about what happened with Puck. After she called a cab to get her home, her mind couldn't stop racing with thoughts of Puck and Santana together so she called Kurt and Mercedes so they could come over.

Finally, she heard Hiram yell up to her, "Rachel, Kurt and Mercedes are here!"

When they walked in, Kurt gave a sad smile. "Date didn't go well?"

"Not at all," she shook her head as they sat down.

"What'd he do?" Mercedes asked. "Hit on the waitress?"

"It's nothing he did on the date, it's what he did a while ago." They looked at her with confused expressions and she sighed. "Santana came in and mentioned that they slept together. Apparently, it happened at Sam's party."

"Okay?" Kurt replied, still confused. "What's wrong with that?"

Rachel rolled her eyes. "He had sex with Santana while he liked me."

"But you were dating Sam," Mercedes replied. "You two weren't together, you couldn't have been expecting him to just swear off girls while he waited for you. No guy likes a girl that much, especially Puck so why are you so upset?"

"How could he have sex with someone else while he claimed he liked me? Especially her. That doesn't make any sense."

Kurt and Mercedes looked at each other before Kurt hesitantly spoke. "Rachel, are you sure this is about Puck?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've had this insecurity involving Santana for a while, especially when you dated Sam and she would flirt with him. Are you sure this isn't about that instead of Puck?"

"That's ridiculous," she shook her head.

"Is it?" Mercedes asked. "Come on Rachel it's us. We know you."

She thought about this before sighing. "I just hate that of all people he did it with her. What if he's obsessed with sex and cheats on me just like Sam if I don't give it to him?"

"Then he doesn't deserve you," Kurt told her. "I'm sure he's not expecting you to give it up after he saw you fight with Sam about it."

"But I don't want the same thing to happen. I want to keep him interested so he won't even be tempted by girls like Santana." Rachel thought for a moment before smiling. "And I know exactly how to do it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day, Puck sighed as he laid across the couch and watched television. He'd been trying to get in contact with Rachel since their date but she was ignoring his texts. He didn't know whether or not they were even still together.

Jake came downstairs with Sara and looked at his brother. "Hey your mom asked us to take Sara to dance class since she's still working."

"Sure," he nodded as they went and got in his truck.

As he drove, Jake looked at him. "Still haven't heard from Rachel?"

"Nope. Still don't get what I even did wrong. Rachel was dating Sam at the time so what's so bad about me getting some while she was occupied?"

"Well Rachel _is_ a virgin. She's probably weird around the topic."

"What's a virgin?" Sara asked from the backseat.

Jake tried to keep from laughing as Puck tried to think of an answer. "Uh it's what you call someone who has never…eaten ice cream."

"Rachel's never eaten ice cream?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah so I'm trying to get her to eat some."

"Maybe we can take her to get some," she innocently suggested.

"Maybe," Puck replied, hitting Jake in the arm as he laughed.

When they got to the dance studio, the boys took Sara inside. Once Sara walked off to class, Jake looked at Puck. "Never eaten ice cream? That was the best you could come up with?"

"Shut up, my mom would kill me if I decided to educate my seven-year-old sister about sex," he rolled his eyes. "Are you staying here with her?"

Jake nodded. "Yeah Marley is supposed to be coming to keep me company."

"Wow using the little sister to get the girl," he smirked. "Had my own taste of that in New York so have fun."

"I plan to," he replied before going to sit with all the other parents as Puck left.

When he got back to the house, he checked his phone again and shook his head when he saw that Rachel still hadn't responded to him. He was about to go upstairs when the doorbell rang. When he opened it, he froze.

"Rachel," he said. "What are you doing here?"

"Can I come in?" she asked. He nodded and stepped aside so that she could walk in. "I'm sorry I haven't responded to your messages, I was kind of freaking out."

"Yeah I figured. What's been going on with you anyway?"

"Can we go to your room?" Not seeing a problem with it, Puck nodded and took her upstairs and sat down on his bed. "Where is everyone?"

"Jake's with Sara at her dance class and my mom is working. You still haven't answered my question."

Rachel looked down. "I didn't think that you were interested in people like Santana. I thought that since you liked me you…"

"Didn't have any interactions with other girls? Yeah I really liked you but at the same time I didn't even know if you were ever going to break up with Sam. I had to keep myself occupied somehow."

"I know and I understand which is why I'm here."

He looked at her, confused before she leaned in and kissed him deeply. Surprised, Puck kissed back as she climbed on top to straddle him and push him back on the bed. As they made out, Rachel grinded against him which he found even more confusing.

When he felt her hands go to undo his belt, Puck pulled away. "Babe what are you doing?"

"Well no one's here so this is perfect timing. Don't worry, I have a condom." She leaned in to kiss him again but he backed away. "What's wrong?"

"Last night you were pissed at me for having sex but now you're trying to? It doesn't make sense."

"Well I realized that you're a guy and you have your needs so I'm going to satisfy them," she explained trying to kiss him again but once again, he backed away. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

"No it's not," he shook his head. "Not from you."

Rachel frowned. "So it's just me you don't want to have sex with. Great."

Puck sighed as she got off of him and stood in front of him. "That's not what I meant. I do want to have sex with you but not now, I mean we just started dating two days ago."

"You and Santana weren't even dating but you still had sex with her so why does that matter?"

Realizing what the problem was, he pulled her back down on his lap. "Look that's different. I didn't like Santana, she was just someone to take my mind off of you since you were with Sam. You mean way more to me than she does and I don't want to mess this up by moving too fast."

"But of all people, why her?"

He thought about it and shrugged. "I was lonely, she was there, and it wasn't the first time I was with her."

"You've slept with her more than once?" she groaned.

"Why does it bother you so much? It's not like we were together."

She hesitated before speaking. "Santana always used to flirt with Sam right in front of me. I knew she was offering him sex but he always told me he said no. With everything that's happened I don't even know if that's true and knowing that she got you too makes it ten times worse. And she's already done it with you right in front of me. How am I supposed to keep you interested in me and not her?"

"Rachel if I wanted Santana don't you think I would be with her?" When she remained silent, he sighed. "Look I waited for you for over six months. If I didn't want to be with you, I wouldn't have done that. Yeah physically I didn't wait but, and this is going to sound corny and sappy as hell, but my heart was always with you."

"Really?"

"Santana doesn't mean anything to me and you don't need to have sex with me just to keep me from being interested in her. You've had my interest from the moment we met."

She smiled. "I'm sorry I freaked out and practically attacked you."

Puck laughed. "No apology necessary. When the time is right, we'll take that step. Until then I'm perfectly happy just doing this."

He kissed her before laying her back down on the bed. When they pulled away, she looked up at him. "If I had shown up in a trench coat and was naked underneath like those movies would you have given in?"

"Probably," he smirked. "By the way, Sara is going to want to take you to get ice cream. Don't get mad but she overheard a conversation with Jake about you being a virgin so I had to tell her a virgin was someone who has never eaten ice cream."

Rachel paused before bursting into laughter. "Nice save."

"Yeah whatever," he laughed before kissing her again.

 **More drama with Sam to come. Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 13

A few weeks later, Puck and Rachel were going strong after getting over the pressures of their relationship. The people at school still make their comments but Rachel has learned to not care. She was happy with Puck and nothing could ruin that. At least that was what she thought for now.

After school, she was at her locker getting her stuff before going to watch Puck at basketball practice when Sam walked over to her.

"Hey Rachel," he greeted.

She frowned. "What do you want, Sam? Shouldn't you be at practice with Noah?"

"Noah?" he smirked. "Aww is that what you call him?"

"That's his name, isn't it? Now what do you want?"

"I just wanted to see how everything was going between you two. I know it must be hard to have a whole new relationship with a guy who watched your ex cheat and kept it a secret from you."

Rachel slammed her locker before looking at him. "I know what you're doing and it's not going to work. We're over and I'm happy with Noah."

"Well just keep in mind, Puck's had his share of women in the past. Wouldn't be surprised if it ends the exact same way, especially since I know you're not giving him anything."

"How can you be so sure?"

He smirked. "You're forgetting we dated for over six months. I know your limits and I'm sure Puck is going to get sick of them. And when he does, I'll be here waiting."

He winked at her before walking away. Trying to ignore what he said, Rachel shook her head and walked off to the gym so she could watch practice. When she got there, she spotted Jake and Puck running through drills with the rest of the team. She smiled to herself before she sat down in the stands. Sam was wrong. Puck was crazy about her and already assured her he was fine with waiting.

But her good mood went sour as she saw Santana approach Puck, clearly flirting with him. Rachel couldn't make out what she was saying but from the look on Puck's face, he wasn't entertaining it and quickly walked away from her. Rachel sighed a breath of relief but frowned at the fact that she was still on edge despite her conversation with Puck. The last thing she wanted was to lose him to someone else but she couldn't try to have sex with him like she did last time because she knew Puck would just repeat what he said. She had to trust him.

When practice was over, Rachel waited outside the locker room for Puck and Jake to finish their showers. When they finally came out, she smiled at them.

"Great practice guys," she told them.

Puck kissed her. "Thank you."

"I'm going to meet Marley at Breadstix so I'll see you at home," Jake told Puck before walking off.

Puck nodded before turning back to Rachel. "Sam faked sick today so I didn't have to deal with him today, thankfully."

"That explains it," she mumbled. When Puck looked at her confused, she sighed. "Before I came to watch you, he stopped me and said some things."

"What kind of things?"

"That you'll probably get sick of my boundaries and cheat just like he did."

He groaned. "He's going to make me kick his ass."

"Just let it go. Like you said, it doesn't matter what anyone else says right?"

Seeing that she was finally listening to him, Puck smiled. "Right. Let's get out of here."

They left the building and got in Puck's truck. As he drove, Rachel noticed he wasn't going the usual way to her house.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"I have a little surprise for you," he told her.

She sat back as he drove to an empty park. When he finally stopped, she looked at him. "What are we doing here? Aren't we outside of Lima?"

"Well I've been thinking. Our first date got ruined so I thought we could use a re-do. And this lessens the chance of anyone bothering us again." As they got out the car, Puck went to the bed of his truck. "I talked to your dads and they told me the one thing you've never done as a kid was go sledding."

When he pulled out a sled, Rachel laughed. "Seriously? It won't be a good first date if I break something."

"Says the girl who learned to ice skate," he rolled his eyes before taking her hand and walking to the top of a hill.

"Are we even allowed to be here?" she asked.

"Of course, it's a public park. It's also winter so no one would really want to come to the park. Now stop talking and get on the sled."

She shook her head. "I am not getting on this thing by myself."

"Fine we'll go together," he told her.

They got on the sled and Puck kicked them off to go down the hill. When they reached the bottom, Rachel looked at him.

"That was awesome," she smiled. "Let's go again."

He laughed and nodded as they got up and went back up the hill. They continued to ride down the hill in different ways, adding different tricks. After they finished sledding they began a snowball fight with each other. When they finally finished with the park, Puck drove them back to Rachel's house where she made them cups of hot chocolate.

As they sat down on her living room floor in front of the fire, Puck looked at her. "Where are your dads anyway?"

"They had to go to Columbus for work. They'll be back the day after tomorrow."

"Does it ever bother you having to be alone in here while your dads are gone?"

She shook her head. "No I'm used to it. Besides, it makes me appreciate when they are home."

"Good point," he replied before taking a sip from his cup.

Rachel looked at him. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," he nodded.

"All that work you put in to help me find my birth mom. Would you ever do that to try to find your dad?"

Puck thought for a moment before shaking his head. "No."

"Why not?"

"The guy was an ass. He didn't care about anyone but himself and left everyone to clean up his mess so there's no need to find him. Jake and Sara are lucky to have never really known him."

Seeing that he was getting upset just thinking about it, Rachel moved closer to him and took his face into her hands. "Wherever he is he's missing out on how great you turned out. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to be with you."

Puck smiled before leaning in and kissing her. As the kiss became heated, he laid her back against the pillows on the floor.

When she pulled away, Rachel looked up at him. "Stay with me tonight?"

"Really?" he asked, completely surprised.

"Yes," she nodded. "Just sleeping though."

"Of course. Let me text my mom and let her know."

Rachel raised an eyebrow. "You think she'll be okay with you staying the night?"

"Nope. That's why I'm saying Finn invited me over for video games so I'll be staying there for the night," he smirked.

She giggled as he got up and went to get his phone. This would be the perfect night to give herself to him but after the day they had, Rachel knew she didn't have to. Puck was clearly happy just being with her and that was enough.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Rachel woke up in Puck's arms the next day, she smiled to herself at how great it felt. She wished it could happen every morning.

When he opened his eyes, Puck smiled at her. "Well this is nice to wake up to."

"I agree," she smiled back. "We should get up though, before we're late for school."

"Yeah plus I did promise my mom I would come by and give Jake a ride so we have to leave early."

She nodded before getting out of bed. As they got dressed, Puck looked at Rachel and smiled to himself. Last night was perfect even without sex. He felt the closest he's ever felt to any girl and he was glad it was with Rachel.

When they arrived to school after getting Jake, Rachel kissed Puck goodbye and went to her first class.

Jake looked at his brother. "So what did you two do last night?"

"What do you mean?" Puck asked innocently. "I was at Finn's last night."

"You just happened to go spend the night at Finn's house after a date with Rachel?"

"Did my mom believe it?"

He nodded. "Yeah she rolled her eyes and said that you're a typical teenage boy."

"Then that's all that matters," Puck smirked. "But between us, Rachel and I didn't do anything. We just laid together, had some hot makeouts and went to sleep."

"All that and no sex? I'm impressed."

He shrugged. "It'll come just not now."

Appreciating this, Jake nodded before changing the subject. "Well are you ready for the game today?"

"You know it. I'm going to be great just like I am with football," he grinned.

His brother shook his head as they went to their classes.

At the game, Puck felt on top of the world. When he looked into the stands and saw Rachel cheering for him, all he wanted was to hurry up and finish the game so he could go and celebrate with her.

As they played, Puck noticed Sam ignoring him whenever he was open and instead, passing the ball to another player. When he was ignored again and a player on the opposite team got the ball, Puck glared at Sam.

"Sam what the hell are you doing?" he yelled to him.

Sam ignored him and kept playing. When Puck finally got the ball, he went and made a shot as the crowd cheered. As they kept playing, Sam knocked Puck to the floor to catch a ball being thrown to him.

"Don't make a big deal about it," Jake told him as he helped him up. "He's just trying to get under your skin."

"Well it's working."

"Focus, we got this. Just keep playing we're almost there."

He glanced over at the stands to Rachel who looked worried. Knowing Jake was right, Puck nodded and they got back into the game. When the final seconds came, Jake got the ball and quickly passed it to Puck who could see Sam in the corner of his eye trying to come towards him. He quickly tossed the ball into the basket as the buzzer sounded, ending the game.

Everyone cheered as Puck was lifted in the air. He could see Sam frowning but at the moment he didn't care. He won the game for everyone and that's all that mattered. When he got back to the floor, Rachel ran into his arms.

"You did great," she smiled.

"I'm surprised you're hugging me even though I'm all sweaty," he joked.

She laughed and pulled away. "I'll excuse it this one time but no more hugs until you shower. I'll be waiting for you in the hall."

Puck nodded as she walked away and he went to go shower. When he finished, he walked out of the locker room and found some of the guys from the team standing around talking to each other. When he found Rachel, he walked over to her.

"Where's Jake?" she asked.

"He's coming, I think he made plans to meet up with Marley. He's trying to get extra clean," he smirked.

"Yeah I thought I would have to carry the whole game," they heard Sam say. "Puck just seemed like he was in a daze the whole time."

Rachel shook her head. "Just ignore him, he's just trying to mess with you."

Puck nodded and tried to calm down until he heard Sam again. "He never takes games or practices seriously. He thinks just because he's good at football he's the leader in basketball too. I mean come on, the guy can barely shoot a three pointer."

Having enough, Puck turned and walked over to Sam. "Look I know it must suck that you can't ever score a winning basket but I'd appreciate it if you'd shut the hell up, especially after the shit you pulled in the game."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sam grinned. "I was simply playing the game."

He rolled his eyes. "Knocking your own teammate to the floor isn't playing the game, you asshole."

"Hey if you're too much of a little bitch to take a hit maybe you shouldn't be playing anything."

Ignoring everyone's shocked looked and murmurs, Puck shook his head. "Whatever dude."

As he started to walk away, he heard Sam's voice once more. "Good luck keeping Rachel happy. Once she realizes what a loser you really are she'll come crawling back to me and I'll give her what she's been missing."

"Noah don't," Puck heard Rachel say before turning around and punching Sam.

Feeling the same way he felt when Rachel found out about Sam's cheating, Puck kept hitting him. This time, Sam fought back harder, getting in a few good hits himself before the coach came out and finally broke it up.

"Enough!" he yelled. "You two know better than to fight on school property."

The principal looked at them before shaking his head. "My office. Now."

Puck silently groaned to himself and caught a glimpse of Rachel looking at him angry and disappointed as they followed the man to the office. When everything was over with, he walked out to the parking lot where Jake was waiting by his truck.

"Thought you had a date?" he asked.

"Told Marley a family emergency came up," Jake replied. "What happened?"

"He got under my skin and I couldn't take it anymore. As a result, three-day suspension. Where's Rachel?"

"She called Kurt to come pick her up."

He frowned. "Yeah she's pissed."

"Oh yeah," Jake nodded. "Though probably not as pissed as your mom will be when she finds out."

"Great," he sighed before throwing his bag in the bed of the truck. "Let's get out of here."

They got in the truck and left the school. Puck knew he shouldn't have let Sam get to him but he couldn't help himself. Now he not only had a suspension and an angry mother to go home to, he also had a very pissed off girlfriend who probably won't even take his calls. Great way to end the day.

 **Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 14

As predicted, when Puck walked in the house Maria was waiting for him. He sighed, realizing she already knew.

"I'll be in my room," Jake said before walking away.

Puck looked at his mom. "Grounded?"

"Oh yeah," she nodded. "Big time. You're to play chauffeur to Jake and Sara and do extra chores around the house since you won't be going to school for the next three days. After that, school, practice, home until further notice. Now go to your room."

He sighed before going up the stairs. It wasn't as bad as he was anticipating but he knew he still had Rachel to face. She'd probably be worse than his mom and he wasn't looking forward to it.

When he dialed her number, she picked up. "Yes?"

"So on a scale of 1-10, how pissed are you at me?"

"Seeing how I still chose to answer your call even though I didn't want to, I'd say a nine. A fight Noah? That's how you solve your problems?"

He frowned at how angry she sounded. "Hey you heard him. The guy has been on my ass lately, I had to do something."

"You didn't need to punch him. That's not how issues should be resolved and you should've walked away."

"I know and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let him get to me but he had it coming. After what he said about you I couldn't let him get away with it."

"That's exactly what you should've done. You know none of what he says is true so you shouldn't let him get to you."

"Yes I know but that doesn't change the fact that he said it. I just don't want this to affect us."

She went silent for a moment. "Did you get suspended?"

"Yeah, three days. And I'm grounded until further notice but I'm not really worried about any of that right now."

She sighed. "I'm still very upset with you but I understand why you lost your temper. It just sucks that you won't be in school for the next few days so I won't be able to see you."

"Well you can always come after school. I have to play chauffeur to Jake and Sara as part of my punishment so it'll be nice to have some company."

"I'd love to."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Over the course of his suspension, Puck spent the days planning a surprise for Rachel to make up for getting into the fight with Sam. While she already forgave him for it, he wanted to prove to her that he was nothing like him and what he was planning was the perfect way to do it.

When his suspension was finally over and his mom finally let him off the hook, Puck rushed to school to find Rachel. When he found her in the choir room, he went over to her and kissed her deeply.

"Good morning to you too," she smiled as they pulled away. "You know I saw you yesterday right?"

"Yes but that was under the watchful eye of Jake and Sara. I am now a free man and I want to celebrate this weekend. Think you can tell your dads you're having a sleepover with Kurt and Mercedes?"

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "I don't see why not. What are you planning?"

"Guess you'll find out this weekend," he smirked before kissing her cheek and leaving to go to class.

At practice that day, Puck was running drills with Finn.

"Okay so you're cool with covering for me this weekend?" he asked.

Finn nodded. "Of course. My mom and Burt are going out of town for some concert so it's not like they'll be a problem. But I have to ask: are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"Things between you and Sam are as bad as ever. You really don't think you should fix this before you get any more serious with Rachel?"

Puck sighed. "It's not like Sam is completely innocent here. If he wasn't such a dick to Rachel, I would've never had a chance and it's not like I broke them up. He did that all on his own so why should I feel bad about being happy with her?"

"You don't need to feel bad about it but maybe you shouldn't throw it in his face as often as you do. I mean, he did have some kind of feelings for Rachel."

"He wanted to have sex with Rachel. That was all it was and when it didn't happen, he moved on to someone else." When Finn gave him a look, Puck groaned and threw the ball back at him. "Fine I'll talk to him."

After practice, Puck walked over to Sam and sat on the bench behind him.

Sam looked at him. "What do you want?"

"To call a truce. Look I'm sorry for how things ended with you and Rachel but I won't apologize for falling for her. Especially since it happened before you even asked her out."

"You think if you had told her she would've chose you instead?" he sneered.

"Honestly? Yeah I do. Rachel had already gotten to know me and I think she definitely would've said yes to me."

Sam nodded. "Okay well since we're being honest here, I had a feeling you liked Rachel when you first met her."

Puck's face fell. "What?"

"I mean it wasn't hard to tell. You smiled like an idiot around her and just kept talking about how interesting you thought she was. But you never did anything so I figured, why not see just how interesting she is for myself if you weren't going to take your shot?"

"So you knew I liked her and went for her anyway."

He shrugged. "Hey you're the one who decided to be slow with it. You could've had her but you missed your shot so you only have yourself to blame."

Puck felt like hitting Sam again but knew he couldn't. Instead, he nodded and stood up. "Well I have my shot now. And I'm going to make sure Rachel forgets all about what happened in your sham of a relationship."

"Good luck. I look forward to seeing you screw up in an even bigger way than I did then maybe I can be the hero and make her feel better."

Not being able to take looking at his face for much longer, Puck left the locker room. He should've known there was no way to repair his friendship with Sam. Sam wasn't the same person anymore and the last thing Puck wanted to do was waste his energy on him. Like Rachel said, he's not worth it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day, Puck drove Rachel to her surprise.

"Noah where are we going?" she asked. "It feels like we've been driving for forever."

He laughed at her eagerness. "You'll see just hang on, we're almost there."

She sighed as he continued to drive. Finally, Puck stopped when he reached a cabin. "Uh why are we at a cabin?"

"This is your surprise," he replied, getting out of the truck and going to her side to open her door. "I was stupid to get in that fight with Sam after you told me to let it go so I want to make it up to you. You seemed to really enjoy our sleepover last week so I figured why not have another one?"

Rachel smiled. "So this place is ours for the weekend?"

"Well it's ours for however long we want it. My grandparents own it but don't come out during this time of year so we have it all to ourselves. What do you think?"

She kissed him. "I think we're going to have a pretty good weekend."

He smiled before getting their bags and walking into the cabin with her. After they got settled in, they cuddled on the couch as they watched television.

"I can't believe you did this for me," Rachel said. "It was a really sweet idea."

"Like I said, I had to make it up to you. It was stupid of me to get in that fight and it almost happened again."

She frowned. "When?"

"Yesterday. I tried to work things out with Sam and he told me that he knew I liked you but asked you out anyway."

"Wow. And you were supposed to be friends?"

He shrugged. "Guess we weren't really friends but that's okay. I won in the end."

She hesitated. "There's something I've been meaning to ask you but I wasn't sure how you'd react."

"Ask me."

"Us being together. This isn't happening because you want to get back at Sam right?"

"No of course not," Puck quickly shook his head. "Why would you think that?"

"It's just the newest theory everyone has for why this is happening. And I know you say to ignore them but they have some good points. You and Sam have always been competitive with each other and when you fight with him, you guys speak like I'm some kind of prize to be won."

"That's not what this is. Rachel I…" he stopped, unsure of whether or not he should continue.

"You what?" she asked.

Puck exhaled. "I've been in love with you for a while."

Her eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yeah." Seeing that she was unsure of how to respond, he stopped her. "I know you're not there yet and it's fine. I just needed you to know this isn't something I'm doing to get back at Sam. I really do have feelings for you and they're pretty strong ones."

"Okay," she replied.

Silence followed before Puck cleared his throat. "I should make us some food."

He got up and went into the kitchen as Rachel sighed to herself. When Puck admitted that he had feelings for her, she thought he just simply liked her. Knowing that he was in love with her while she was with Sam made it even more unbelievable that he stood by and watched her date his best friend for all that time. She wanted to say she felt the same but she knew she couldn't unless it was really what she felt. Now it felt like she had just ruined the weekend Puck planned for them.

 **Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 15

Puck cooked him and Rachel dinner in silence as Rachel sat on the couch. He knew he shouldn't feel bad about Rachel not being to respond to his feelings for her but part of him couldn't help it. It felt great to finally have her like he'd been wanting but he also wanted her to feel the same way about him.

"I didn't know you could cook," Rachel said, trying to make small talk.

He nodded. "Yeah after Jake came to live with us my mom needed me to start helping out more so some nights I had to make dinner for us while she worked. It was either that or starve."

"What are you making?"

"Vegan garlic pasta for you and regular garlic pasta for me."

She shook her head as she got up and walked over to him. "You really don't have to go through the trouble of cooking a whole separate dish for me. I could've managed."

"Hey this whole thing was my idea. I wasn't going to not feed you, I'd be a shitty boyfriend if I did that. Besides I was hoping you'd think my cooking our meal was sexy," he smirked.

Rachel laughed. "So I'm assuming you don't want help? I'm a pretty good cook myself."

"Only if you want to."

She nodded before picking up another spoon to stir the noodles around. As she cooked with Puck, Rachel felt relief that the awkwardness was gone. But the more she thought about it, the more she realized how stupid it was for her to think that Puck was anything like Sam. Sam never went through all this trouble for her. Puck has done more for her in the time that they've been together than Sam had done in their entire relationship. Puck even gave up his best friend for her and yet she was still questioning his intentions. It all felt silly to her now.

After they ate dinner, Puck and Rachel went upstairs to change out of their day clothes. When Puck finished getting dressed in another bedroom, he went back to the one he was sharing with Rachel and found her still in her bra and panties.

"Sorry I thought you were done," he said, quickly looking away. "I'll wait for you downstairs."

"Noah," Rachel called as he started to walk away. "Look at me."

Puck slowly turned to look at her and when he did, he couldn't look away as she walked over to stood in front of him. Feeling himself harden under his shorts, Puck cleared his throat. "Uh babe we should-"

"Touch me," she told him. "Please."

Hesitantly, he reached behind her and unclasped her bra as she let it fall to the floor, never taking their eyes off each other. Puck gently took her breasts in his hands and gently massaged them as Rachel leaned her head back and closed her eyes in pleasure. He leaned down and kissed her as he gently moved her back on the bed.

Rachel removed his shirt before bringing his lips back to hers. As their tongues battled, Puck was surprised by how explorative Rachel was being with his body as she ran her hands over his muscles. It didn't feel forced like the last time she tried to do this which made him want her more. He knew she could feel how hard he was but she didn't seem bothered by it at all.

He pulled away for a moment to look down at her. "Rachel I got to be honest, I have no idea where this is headed."

"Do you love me?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Then I want this with you. I'm sure this time." When he didn't say anything, she became worried. "You're not going to turn me down this time are you?"

Puck shook his head. "Trust me I don't want to. I just want to make sure this is really what you want. We don't have to just because we're in this cabin alone, you know that."

"Noah stop. I'm serious this time, I want you. And I think...I think I'm in love with you too."

He stared at her for a moment before kissing her deeply. It was like everything he had been wanting was finally coming to him and it felt great. Rachel was his and nothing was going to ruin that. Especially not Sam.

As they made out, Puck pulled down her panties and ran his fingers up and down her folds. Rachel writhed under his touch as he moved down her body placing soft kisses all over her body. She reached over to her purse and pulled out the condom from the last time they attempted this and handed it to Puck.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "You kept it?"

"Well I couldn't have my dads see it so keeping it in my purse was the only logical answer," she replied.

Nodding at her reasoning, he took off his shorts and boxers before opening the condom and sliding it on. As he leaned down to kiss her again, Puck looked at her once more to silently question if she was ready. When Rachel nodded, he slowly pushed inside of her. When he felt her tense up he looked at her.

"Do you want me stop?" he asked.

She shook her head. "No. Keep going."

Slowly, Puck started to move in and out of her. Once he saw that she was comfortable with it, he developed a steady pace. As he bent down and gently bit her neck, Rachel moaned, turning him on even more.

"Noah," she breathed out. "You can go faster."

He nodded and started thrusting faster. The more Rachel called out his name in ecstasy, the better each thrust felt. Something about the way she called out his given name instead of Puck just turned him on more. He kissed her and interlaced their hands as he felt himself getting close. He felt Rachel reach her climax, clenching around him as he came into the condom.

After pulling it off and tossing it in the nearest wastebasket, Puck pulled Rachel into his arms and kissed her again. "So tell me the truth. How was it?"

"Different from what I was expecting," she answered, laying her head on his chest. "I hear girls talk all the time about how their first times are awkward but this didn't feel that way. It felt right."

"Good." He paused. "Can I ask you something else?"

"Of course."

"Why now? What made you decide this was the right time?"

She looked up at him. "Honestly?"

"Honestly."

"While we were cooking earlier I just realized how stupid I've been, thinking that you were anything like Sam. You've done so much for me and haven't expected anything in return and I'm not used to that. I was so caught up in making sure that you won't hurt me like he did that I was ignoring everything you were doing to prove that you're nothing like him. You've made me feel like the most special girl in the world and I love you for that."

Puck smiled at those words and kissed her again. "You know, it would've helped to have a heads-up about this. I could've gotten us more condoms so we could have a full night."

Rachel laughed. "Sorry I wasn't planning on this happening."

"Neither was I. But that's okay."

"You sure?"

"Hey I anticipated us spending the night like we did last time. No sex, just you and me together all night with no interruptions. That's good enough for me."

She smiled at his words. "Good."

They intertwined their hands and laid there for a little longer before deciding to continue with the night and make sundaes. For the night, the outside world was forgotten and all they had to do was focus on each other.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Puck woke up the next morning, he stared at Rachel sleeping peacefully next to him. He hated the thought of going back to reality after the night they just had. Everything was easier when it was just the two of them and they didn't have to worry about Sam bothering them.

He gently kissed her forehead before getting out of bed and going to the bathroom to shower. When he came out, he found Rachel sitting up in bed.

"Morning," he smiled.

"Morning," she smiled back. "Do we have to go back? We could always tell them we're running away and never coming back."

He laughed. "Yeah because your dads and my mom will be so open to that."

"A girl can dream," she said as he came over and kissed her. "Everything just seems so much more peaceful here."

"Well we don't have to leave just yet. We can always tell our parents we'll be home for dinner if you want."

"Sounds good to me. I'm going to get a shower in."

"Want company?" he smirked as she rolled her eyes and closed the door behind her.

Puck laughed to himself before getting an idea and leaving. When he came back, Rachel was in the living room.

"Hey where'd you go?" she asked.

"Just to the gas station to get some candy. What are you doing?" he asked walking over to sit next to her.

"Looking through these old photo albums I found. I've never seen photos of you when you were younger. You were so cute."

"I'll take that to mean that I'm incredibly sexy now instead of cute," he joked.

She giggled. "Yes you are. It's too bad Jake isn't in any of these pictures."

"Yeah if we would've known about him I'm sure he would've been. But his mom probably has her own stash of embarrassing photos of him so I'm sure we'll see them eventually."

"It's really cool how close you two have gotten. I don't know if anyone would've reacted the same way if they found out what you had."

Puck shrugged. "The way I see it is my dad ran out on him too. Not his fault our dad couldn't step up and be there for his family. I just hope I don't become the man he was."

She shook her head. "I doubt that'll happen. You have too much good inside you."

"Yeah but I have his temper. Which explains why it's hard not to punch Sam every time I see him."

"You just have to remember that you have something he doesn't: me," she smiled.

"And I'm a lucky guy for that," he replied, leaning in and kissing her. As the kiss became heated, he pulled away. "So you know how I said I left to get candy?"

"Yes."

"I lied," he told her, pulling a box of condoms out of the bag. "Just in case the moment came before we left here."

Rachel playfully rolled her eyes. "That was very smart of you because I'm pretty sure that moment is coming now."

He laughed as she kissed him. "Always good to be prepared."

 **Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 16

"So you still haven't told me what happened with you and Rachel," Jake said as they walked into school Monday morning. "All you said was that it was interesting."

"Then there's your answer," Puck smirked. "It was interesting."

"You're really not going to tell me anything?"

"Nope. Whatever happened is staying between me and Rachel."

Jake shook his head. "Well whatever it is it must've been good."

"Oh it was," he replied as Santana approached them. "What do you want Satan?"

"Just wanted to see how your weekend was," she shrugged innocently. "My weekends are so lonely now that you're with that dwarf."

"That's unfortunate," Rachel said, walking up from behind her and firmly planting a kiss on Puck's lips.

Taking the hint, Santana rolled her eyes and walked away as Puck pulled away and raised an eyebrow at Rachel. "Well that was direct."

"Was that too much?" she asked worriedly. "I just thought it would be a good way of sending the message and-"

He cut her off by kissing her again. "That was perfect babe."

"Well I'll leave you two lovebirds and go find Marley," Jake said, walking away.

Puck smirked. "I see our weekend together already has you acting differently."

"Yeah I guess so. After we…you know, I just feel different. Like a new woman."

"Well this new woman seems to be way more confident about us so I like it," he smiled. "Come on, I'll walk you to class."

She smiled back as they started walking. After they separated, all Rachel could think about was how happy she was. Puck was so sweet with her and she loved every minute of it. She wanted some way to show him how much she loved him besides sex. When she thought of an idea, she smiled to herself and started planning.

At lunch, Rachel went and ate with Kurt and Mercedes.

When she noticed them staring at her, she looked at them in confusion. "What?"

"You're glowing," Mercedes smirked.

"And can't stop smiling," Kurt added. "Something happen with Puck?"

"Nope not at all," she shrugged but when she saw they clearly weren't buying it, she giggled. "Okay yes something happened."

"Well spill," Mercedes urged.

"He took me to his grandparents' cabin for the weekend and we…" she trailed off, starting to blush.

Kurt's jaw dropped. "You didn't. You two had sex?"

She nodded. "And it was amazing. I feel like a new woman."

"He didn't pressure you into doing it, did he?" Mercedes asked.

"No actually I was the one who initiated it. Guys he's not Sam. He really does care about me and have genuine feelings for me like I do for him."

Kurt and Mercedes looked at each other before Kurt spoke. "Well as long as you're happy and he doesn't become a huge jerk then we're happy for you."

Rachel smiled but it immediately faded when Sam pulled up a chair and sat next to her. "What do you want?"

"Well I couldn't help but overhear your conversation and I wanted to say congrats on making it so easy for Puck."

"Excuse me?"

"Come on even you can't deny that you made it so hard for me but for Puck you gave it up just like that. You're not the first girl he's brought to that cabin. I'm sure Santana's been there a time or two."

Hating the mention of Santana, Rachel frowned as she got up and walked out of the lunch room. Kurt and Mercedes glared at Sam as Puck walked over to them.

"Uh since when do you eat with them?" he asked Sam.

"Oh I was just having a conversation."

He looked at Kurt and Mercedes for an explanation and Kurt sighed. "Rachel told us about your weekend and he just had to chime in about it."

Puck glared at Sam. "I know you can be a dumbass sometimes but I thought we were clear. Stop bothering Rachel or I'll gladly kick your ass in front of everyone again."

Sam smirked as he stood up. "If you do, you'll be expelled then it'll just be me and Rachel here."

"Seriously Sam what the fuck is your problem? You were only ever into her because she was hot, I don't see why you have to keep bothering us."

"That's true but I saw the way you were with her when we were together. You always had to make sure to show her how much better than me you were. You messed with my relationship so I'm just returning the favor."

He walked away as Puck sighed to himself. As much as he hated to admit it, Sam had a point. He did go out of his way to point out that he was the better guy sometimes. Part of that was because he knew the way Sam truly felt about her and then the other part was because of his own feelings for her. He had to fix this somehow but he also needed to find Rachel.

He looked at Kurt and Mercedes. "Any idea where she went?"

"I'd try the choir room," Mercedes told him. He nodded and turned to walk away. "Puck." He turned back around to look at her. "This is the happiest we've seen Rachel in a long time. And we're glad it's because of you."

Kurt nodded in agreement and Puck gave a small smile and nod of appreciation before walking off to find Rachel. When he looked in the choir room, sure enough she was in there playing the piano.

"Hey," he said, walking over to her. "They told me what happened. Rachel he's not worth it-"

She cut him off by kissing him deeply. When they pulled away, she looked at him. "You meant what you said this weekend right?"

"Uh, we talked about a lot over the weekend," he replied, still winded from the kiss. "I need specifics."

She rolled her eyes. "That you loved me."

"Oh then yes absolutely."

"Then it doesn't matter what he or anyone else says. I may not have waited long with you but this feels right. This feels real and I know I made the right decision."

Puck smiled at her. "That's my girl."

She smiled back. "You busy after school?"

"Nope why?"

"Meet me in the auditorium," she told him as the bell rang, ending lunch. She gave him one last smile before walking away to go to class as he thought about what she had planned.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When Puck walked into the auditorium and saw Rachel setting up with the band, he got déjà vu thinking of the last time a scene like this unfolded. Part of him started to get nervous even though he had nothing to be nervous about because he hadn't done anything.

When she noticed him, Rachel smiled at him. "Come sit."

He went and sat on a stool in front of the microphone. "What's all this?"

"Well I know that we took a huge step this past weekend and you've done so much for me so I wanted to take the time and do a little something for you. Now we all know I express myself s so much better with a song and I've never actually sang just for you before so I figured this would be a nice surprise."

Seeing how she hadn't even noticed the awkwardness of being in the same position Sam was in months ago, Puck knew he shouldn't worry about it so he nodded. "Okay I'm liking the idea."

"Great," she replied before walking back to the mic and cueing the band to start.

 _Our love runs deep like a Chevy  
If you fall I'll fall with you baby  
'Cause that's the way we like to do it  
That's the way we like_

 _You run around open doors like a gentleman  
And tell me, "Girl, every day you're my everything."  
'Cause that's the way you like to do it  
That's the way you like_

 _Just a little West Coast, and a bit of sunshine  
Hair blowing in the wind, losing track of time  
Just you and I, just you and I  
Whoa, whoa_

 _No matter how far we go,  
I want the whole world to know  
I want you bad, and I won't have it any other way  
No matter what the people say,  
I know that we'll never break  
'Cause our love was made, made in the USA  
Made in the USA, yeah_

Puck smiled at the choice in song and the fact that Rachel was finally singing a love song dedicated to him. He'd been waiting for this for so long that it felt unreal at times.

 _You're always reading my mind like a letter  
When I'm cold, you're there like a sweater  
'Cause that's the way we like to do it  
That's the way we like_

 _I'll never ever let the world get the best of you  
Every night we're apart, I'm still next to you  
'Cause that's the way I like to do it  
That's the way I like_

 _We touch down on the East Coast  
Dinner on the sky rise,  
Winter is the best time for walking in the city lights  
You and I, you and I  
Whoa, whoa_

 _No matter how far we go,  
I want the whole world to know  
I want you bad, and I won't have it any other way  
No matter what the people say,  
I know that we'll never break  
'Cause our love was made, made in the USA_

 _'Cause baby I'll bite the bullet  
And take the blows for love  
Whoa oh oh, our love was made in the USA  
Made in the USA, made in the USA_

Rachel smiled as she hit the note, happy to see that Puck was enjoying the performance. She knew he was probably worried about what she'd be singing given everything that happened with Sam so she figured that if she acted like it didn't happen, it wouldn't bother him and she was right.

 _No matter how far we go,  
I want the whole world to know  
I want you bad, and I won't have it any other way  
No matter what the people say,  
I know that we'll never break  
'Cause our love was made, made in the USA  
Made in the USA, yeah_

 _Made in the U.S.  
Made in the U.S.  
Made in the U.S.A. _

When she finished, Puck clapped and got up to kiss her. When they pulled away, he wrapped her in his arms and stared at her.

"What?"

"Just thinking about how glad I am that Sam fucked up," he admitted. "I wouldn't have made a move if he hadn't."

"Well I'm glad he did too," she replied, kissing him again before they started to leave.

 **Song is Made in The USA by Demi Lovato. Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 17

"I think you should try to make peace with Sam," Rachel said as they laid in the back of Puck's truck staring at the sky that night.

He looked at her, confused. "Why would I do that?"

"Because we can't keep letting him mess with us. While it brings us closer together it also makes our relationship more stressful than it has to be."

"Okay but how am I supposed to convince him to make peace? You've met Sam, he's not open to listening to anything I have to say."

"Please?" she asked with puppy eyes. "For me?"

Realizing he couldn't say no, Puck groaned. "Fine, I'll try. Don't expect anything though."

She nodded as they continued to lay together and talk. The next day, Puck sighed as he knocked on the door to Sam's house. He wasn't sure how this was about to go but he knew he had to at least try to end this ongoing battle between them. Otherwise, he'd just keep having to restrain himself from punching Sam in the face every time he saw him.

After a moment, Sam's mom opened the door and smiled. "Noah, haven't seen you around here in a while. How have you been?"

"I've been good, how about you?"

"Pretty well, thank you," she said as she opened the door wider for him to come in. "Sam's upstairs, claiming that he's studying but something tells me he isn't. Go on up."

"Thank you," Puck nodded before going upstairs. He took a deep breath before walking into the room.

Sam looked up at him. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to call a truce," he said, staying at the opposite side of the room. "Look I'm tired of all the back and forth going on with us. It has to stop."

"Should've thought about that before you stole my girlfriend."

"Sam you never really liked Rachel in the first place. You just asked her out so I wouldn't. I, on the other hand, really like her and want to be with her."

"And now you are. I bet the day we broke up you made your move."

He shook his head. "Actually I just went to see if she was okay. I didn't have any intention of telling her my feelings but it just happened and even after that we waited to see if her feelings for me were real."

"Okay," Sam nodded before glaring at him again. "And what about your trip to New York? You two were together practically the whole vacation. That wasn't intentional?"

"She just needed my help with something. I never made a move while you two were together and I tried to respect your relationship but you have to admit you were a dick to her. Maybe I did try to make myself look better than you sometimes and I'm sorry for that but I didn't deliberately mess with your relationship. In the end, Rachel chose me."

"She'll realize what a mistake was. You're just as bad as I am, I mean when have you ever had a serious relationship with anyone?"

"That obviously doesn't matter now. I found someone who's worth it."

"Until she figures out that you're no better than me. Then she'll dump your ass."

Puck shook his head. "Big talk coming from someone who didn't get as far as I have. Clearly Rachel trusts me more than she ever trusted you."

"Or she's just easy," he shrugged.

Puck resisted the urge to hit him and instead took a deep breath, trying to remember why he was there. "Look this is the crap I want to end. We were friends, we shouldn't let it be ruined over a girl."

Sam hesitated before shaking his head. "This can be over when you and Rachel break up."

"Seriously Sam? You really want to keep doing this back and forth?"

"You can leave now."

Puck frowned at Sam's resistance. "Fine. Can't say I didn't try."

Without another word, he turned and left. He hated that he and Sam couldn't work things out between them and now he had to stay on the lookout for Sam messing with his relationship. There had to be some way to end this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So he really wants to keep all of this up?" Jake asked as they cleaned the kitchen after dinner that night. "Why not just stop and be friends again?"

"Honestly I don't know if we were ever friends to begin with. I mean what kind of friend deliberately goes after the girl he knows his friend likes? I think it's safe to say our friendship is over."

"Okay the friendship is over but why keep messing with you and especially Rachel? She didn't do anything to him."

Puck shrugged. "Maybe because she chose me, who knows? I just have to figure out how to keep dealing with him without hitting him when he goes too far. I just don't get why he doesn't see that this crap is pointless."

Jake paused for a moment. "Maybe he can't hear it from you. Maybe he needs to hear it from Rachel."

He thought about this before shrugging. "Hey it can't hurt anything. But I don't see this going well with her."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You want me to what?" Rachel raised an eyebrow at school the next day.

Puck sighed. "Come on babe, if anyone can convince Sam to back off it's you."

"But I don't want to talk to him. He cheated on me, I don't owe him any kind of explanation of why I want to be with you."

"I know but it might help. I've tried and it didn't work so you're the last chance. If it doesn't work then we'll just have to figure out a way to deal with him but I think it's worth a shot."

She paused, considering the idea before groaning. "Fine. I'll talk to him after school. You're lucky I love you."

"Yes I am," he smiled before she kissed him.

After school, Rachel took a deep breath before walking into the locker room and finding Sam hitting a punching bag.

"Imagining that's Noah?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Not today. Let me guess, he sent you to try to convince me to let go of this crap between us? Well I'll save you some time: not happening."

"Sam what is this solving? If Noah and I do break up do you really think I'll come back to you after how you treated me?"

"Oh come on, like I treated you so terribly. I seem to recall you saying that I was the best boyfriend you've ever had."

"To be fair, you were also my first real boyfriend. How you treated me really wasn't the way to be treated in a relationship and thanks to Noah, I know that now."

"Oh right, your perfect boyfriend. Puck isn't as great as you're imagining him to be. He's a dick, he uses girls and tosses them aside when something hotter comes along."

She shook her head. "Well he's not like that with me. He loves me."

"For now. What happens when someone better comes? Think he'll still love you then?"

Seeing that she wasn't getting anywhere, Rachel rolled her eyes and started to walk out but Sam went to stand in front of her. "Please move."

"Just admit it, Rachel. You know Puck isn't a keeper. Me, on the other hand." He moved a strand of hair from her face. "I learned my lesson. You deserve to be treated way better than what I was doing and I'll never cheat on you again."

"Sam I'm with Noah. And even if I wasn't, I wouldn't come back to someone who cheated on me."

He sighed. "Look I'm sorry for that. Honestly, being with you can be a little intimidating."

"How?" she raised an eyebrow.

"You're this smart, incredibly beautiful girl and for some reason you wanted to be with me. I didn't think I was good enough for you so I was a jackass to cover it up. It was stupid and I wish it hadn't happened."

"You do?"

He nodded, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her closer. "Yeah I mean me and you should've been together. We would've been celebrating our nine-month anniversary this week."

"That's right," Rachel frowned, remembering the date.

"I would've had a perfect date planned for you. I would've had you get dressed up and I would've taken you to a fancy place outside of Lima and given you a nice gold star necklace or something. Give me another chance and we can have that again," he said, leaning in.

She hesitated for a moment before realizing what was happening and pushing Sam away. "You really are a jerk."

Sam smirked. "You see how easy it was for you to forget about Puck? Sounds like you're not as in love with him as you think."

"Yes I am. Stay away from me," she said before walking out.

Once she was in the hall, Rachel took a deep breath. She couldn't believe she let that happen. She had a moment of weakness and while nothing ended up happening, she couldn't help but feel guilty about putting herself in that position. Puck was going to be questioning her about how it went and she wasn't sure if she'd be able to tell him the truth.

 **Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 18

The next day, Rachel sat with Mercedes and Kurt in the choir room and told them what had happened with Sam. The whole night she felt terrible about it and avoided Puck's calls while she tried to figure out how to tell him without him getting upset and starting another fight.

"Rachel you know you can't keep avoiding Puck," Mercedes told her. "He's going to know something is up."

"I know but you guys have seen how upset and tense he gets when it comes to Sam. If I tell him what happened he'll try to start a fight again and I don't want that."

Kurt nodded in understanding. "But you also can't keep this from him. That's not good for your relationship."

"I just can't believe I almost fell for it," she frowned. "If I hadn't realized what was happening I probably would've kissed Sam. Then I'd lose Noah."

"But you didn't," Mercedes said. "Don't beat yourself up about it, anybody would've fallen into Sam's trap."

Before Rachel could respond, Puck walked in the room. "Hey I thought I'd find you in here."

Knowing that they needed to be alone, Kurt got up. "We'll see you guys later. Come on, Mercedes."

As the two walked out, Puck looked at Rachel. "If I didn't know any better I'd think you were avoiding me."

"What would give you that idea?"

"The fact that you did the same thing you always do when you avoid me," he smirked. "So what happened with Sam? When he saw me earlier he just smiled and shook his head and I didn't get a good feeling about it."

She looked down and shifted nervously. "He didn't talk to you, did he?"

"No why?" When he noticed how uncomfortable Rachel looked, Puck frowned. "Rachel what's going on? Did something happen?"

"He tried to kiss me and get me to take him back. And I almost fell for it." When she saw him starting to get upset, she quickly tried to explain. "I don't know how it happened. He just said all the right things and I actually believed it but when I realized what was happening, I left. I didn't know how to tell you without you getting upset so that's why I've been avoiding you."

He paused before speaking. "You don't still have feelings for him do you?"

"No absolutely not," she quickly shook her head. "I told him to stay away from me because I love you." When he still didn't say anything, Rachel became worried. "I understand if you hate me."

Finally, he looked at her and sighed. "Of course I don't hate you. I'm pissed that it happened and I'm even more pissed that I was stupid enough to have you deal with Sam on your own but I'm not mad at you."

"Really?" she raised her eyebrows in shock.

"Really. It was my idea to ask you to go alone, I should've seen something like this coming so I can't be mad at you. Plus you said you walked away and I believe you." Rachel smiled and kissed him. "But that doesn't mean I'm not going to kill Sam."

"Noah please just let it go. That's exactly why I was afraid to tell you."

"I've had enough of his crap," he groaned in frustration. "Clearly calling a truce isn't working so we need to get him off our case another way."

She shrugged. "We'll just have to figure something else out."

He thought about it before nodding as Rachel laid her head on his shoulder. It was time they ended Sam's manipulation for good and maybe standing up to him would make him finally back down.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm surprised you didn't try to kick his ass when you found out," Jake smirked as he made himself a sandwich after school while Puck flipped through channels on the TV.

"Trust me I wanted to. But then I'd just be proving Rachel right and making her feel like she can't tell me anything especially when it comes to Sam. Doesn't mean I'm not pissed that it happened or that I don't still want to kick his ass."

"I don't get it, why not just tell him to back off?"

Puck sighed. "Tried that and he insisted on continuing. I think he gets some sick pleasure out of torturing us and I don't get why."

"Well you did steal his girlfriend if you think about it."

"No I didn't. He cheated and Rachel chose to be with me after breaking up with him. He's just mad that he fucked up and lost her."

Jake thought for a moment. "Maybe that's not what he's really upset about. I mean if Rachel couldn't convince him then maybe his issues go deeper than just the relationship."

"At this point I don't really give a shit what his issues are. I just want him to stay the hell away from Rachel."

Before Sam could respond, Maria walked in with Sara. "Hey guys. How was school?"

"Depends on who you're asking," Jake smirked.

When Maria looked at Puck with a confused expression, he frowned. "Sam hit on Rachel and tried to get her to take him back."

"When is this back and forth between you three going to stop?" she asked. "Don't you think it's time to bury the hatchet with Sam?"

"What's a hatchet and why does he need to bury it with Sam?" Sara asked, looking up at her mother.

"It's a figure of speech, kid," Puck told her before looking back at Maria. "I've tried but he won't budge. He's set on trying to ruin me and Rachel's relationship and I'm sick of it."

"Ever think that maybe Sam's upset with you for dating his ex? I mean I know I've been out of high school for some time but I'm sure that's frowned upon."

"Maybe you should just say you're sorry," Sara suggested. "Then you can be friends again."

As she and Maria walked away, Puck thought to himself. There's no way that can be Sam's issue. He never even liked Rachel to begin with so why be upset that they're dating? Maybe he and Rachel just needed to be firm with Sam and make him understand they're not taking his crap anymore.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day, Puck and Rachel walked hand in hand up to Sam as he stood at his locker. Sam glanced at them.

"Can I help you guys?" he asked, still facing the locker.

"We want you to stop meddling in our relationship," Rachel told him.

"Hey it's not my fault you almost gave into me the other day. Though I wish you did, your lips were really soft."

Puck felt Rachel squeeze his hand to prevent him from getting upset and smirked. "They are, aren't they? Luckily I'm the only one who gets to feel them."

Sam rolled his eyes. "For now."

"Sam even though I want to kick your ass right now for even trying that crap with Rachel, I won't because no matter how many times I do, you'll never get over the fact that I'm with her and you're not. But I have to ask, do you really think you deserve her? After everything you put her through?"

"That's not the point."

"But it is. Who's Rachel's musical icon? What's her dream role on Broadway?" When Sam looked down, he shook his head. "Barbra Streisand and Fanny Brice. You don't even know. You never really listened to her and you cheated on her the first chance you got. You don't deserve her. You never did."

"And you do?" he raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah I do. I waited for my chance with her for so long that I don't want to do anything to mess this up. You can keep messing with us but nothing is going to change the fact that I love this girl and she loves me. In the end, we'll still have each other and you'll still be lonely. You're so caught up in trying to get back at us that you won't put energy into finding someone else. I feel sorry for you."

Without another word, Puck led Rachel away, leaving Sam speechless. As they walked, Puck sighed to himself. It still didn't feel like the issue was fully solved but at least he got that out of his system.

"Thank you for not getting violent," Rachel smiled, bringing him out of his thoughts.

He nodded. "I just hope we made some kind of progress."

"If not, like you said we'll still have each other and he'll still have no one. That's all that matters."

Puck simply nodded before they separated and went to their classes. Throughout the day, he tried to forget about the drama with Sam and just focus on school and Rachel which was proving to be a difficult task. They were in a good place but every now and then the thought of her almost kissing Sam came to his mind and made him angry all over again.

When free period came, Puck went and sat in the gym instead of going to find Rachel. He figured that taking this space from her would allow him to get the thoughts of her and Sam out of his mind but it just made it worse.

His thoughts were interrupted when Rachel came in. "Hey what happened? I thought we were supposed to be spending free period together?"

Puck shrugged. "I didn't think it was a big deal if we didn't."

"What's wrong?" she asked, immediately sensing the tension between them. "Are you still upset about Sam?"

"I guess you can say that."

"Noah what is it? You can tell me."

He hesitated. "I'm trying to forget about it but the image of you almost kissing Sam is driving me insane. I know I told you I'm not mad at you but that doesn't mean that I'm not completely over it."

"Well what can I do to help you get over it?"

"Nothing. I'll get over it eventually but for right now it just sucks to think about. I mean you almost went for Sam's crap, how am I supposed to feel?"

Rachel frowned. "I'm sorry but you're the one who suggested I talk to Sam in the first place. I didn't even want to."

"So it's my fault that you almost ended up kissing him?"

"No that's not what I'm saying," she groaned. "Can we not fight about this? That's exactly what Sam wants, we can't give him that satisfaction."

"I just need some space right now to clear my head so I don't decide to go punch his face in."

Seeing there was nothing she could do to help, Rachel shook her head and walked out of the gym leaving Puck by himself. Once he knew she was gone, Puck groaned to himself and put his head in his hands. He knew Rachel didn't intentionally do anything wrong and what happened wasn't her fault but that incident combined with the rest of Sam's meddling has started to get to him. Now he was taking it out on Rachel and he hated it.

Realizing he needed to go apologize, Puck got up to leave when Sam walked in.

"I'm really not in the mood right now," Puck glared at him.

"I'm not here to fight with you. I came to tell you to meet me at the basketball court after school."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why? Plan on having the guys from the team jump me?"

"Just come," Sam rolled his eyes. "I have something to say that works better if we're out of school since free period is almost over."

Puck thought about it. He could meet up with Sam after school and if things went south, he was free to finally kick his ass without interference. "Okay fine. Basketball court after school."

He nodded and walked out, leaving Puck to wonder what he could possibly want to talk about. He thought everything had been said this morning and when Sam didn't have a response, he assumed it was the end of it. Apparently, he was wrong.

 **Let me know your thoughts! I plan on wrapping this story up as well as Back To You and eventually Come Closer. If you have any ideas of prompts that you'd like me to try let me know so I can get more of you reading. Bye for now :)**


	19. Chapter 19

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 19

After school, Puck went to the basketball court and waited for Sam to show up. He'd spent the past few hours trying to figure out what Sam had to say but couldn't come up with anything. He just wanted to get this over with so he could go apologize to Rachel for being a jerk to her earlier.

Puck heard footsteps and looked to see Sam approaching him. "Okay so what do you want?"

Sam sighed. "Remember in fifth grade I tried inviting the whole class to my birthday party and everyone said no until you convinced them to come?'

"Yeah."

"Or eighth grade when I wanted to ask Molly Davis to the dance but she said no because she was waiting for you to ask her? Or when we all went out for the football team but only Finn and I spent months getting prepared for it and when we tried out, you got on the team instantly but I had to keep trying out before they let me on?"

"What's your point?" Puck asked, not needing a trip down memory lane.

"Everything always came easy to you. Everyone liked you, girls wanted you. I was always second best. When I got with Rachel, I knew that you liked her but I liked the fact that I finally got something you didn't get. And she was actually into me. But I got cocky and messed it up. And as much as I hate to admit it, you're right. I didn't really like Rachel. I just liked that she was someone you wanted and I got her instead of you."

"You realize how fucked up that sounds out loud right?"

He nodded. "Yeah I know. When we broke up and I found out she was with you, I lost it. Once again, you had won so I was an ass to you guys. I was tired of you always getting everything."

"Yeah Sam because everything comes easy to me," Puck replied sarcastically. "Like finding out that the dad who abandoned us also cheated on my mom and I had a brother out there that I didn't even know about until recently. Or watching my mom cry at night for weeks after finding out what a jackass my dad was. Or having to explain to Sara how she ended up with another brother and no dad. You honestly think my life is a walk in the park?"

"I know you have your own things to deal with. I just thought you get enough and it was time for me to get something for once."

"But once you got it you ruined it."

Sam paused. "I think I just decided there wasn't a point in trying anymore since I got what I wanted as shitty as that sounds. I wish I didn't hurt Rachel in the process but I can't take it back."

"No but you could stop trying to ruin our relationship. If you ever really cared about Rachel which I'm sure you did, you'd let her be happy. Even if the person making her happy is me."

He nodded. "You're right and I'm sorry for everything. What you guys said earlier really got to me. All this time I've been spending trying to get back at you I could've spent finding someone else who I actually have feelings for and I don't want to be that person anymore. It's obvious that Rachel's happier than she's ever been and I don't want to mess that up."

"Well I'm doing a pretty good job of that on my own," Puck sighed. Sam looked at him in confusion before he continued. "After that moment you guys had I couldn't get it out of my head and I took out my frustration on her so we're not exactly on speaking terms right now."

He frowned. "I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have even tried that. But I think we both know Rachel's the forgiving type so I'm sure you're good."

"I just don't want to put her through anymore crap and me getting mad at her for something that wasn't her fault isn't a good start."

"Hey what relationship doesn't have a few bumps in the road? Now that the main one is out of the way you guys will be back in your honeymoon stage as soon as we go talk to her."

Puck stared at him. "We?"

"Yeah I have a few things to say to her too. So let's go."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Puck and Sam stood on Rachel's doorstep waiting for her to answer. Puck's stomach was in knots not knowing what Sam was going to say to her but he knew it couldn't be too bad given what he said earlier.

When she finally opened the door, Rachel froze. "Well this is unexpected."

"Can we talk?" Puck asked.

She hesitated before letting them in. "My dads are at an office party tonight so you got lucky. Now what do you want to talk about?"

Puck motioned for Sam to go first so Sam took a deep breath. "I'm sorry for everything. Cheating on you was the dumbest thing I've ever done and I wish I could take back ever hurting you."

Shocked, Rachel nodded. "Okay."

"Trying to ruin you and Puck's relationship was me being selfish and I don't want to do that because you don't deserve that. Having issues with Puck doesn't mean I should hurt you in the process. You're happy with him so you guys deserve each other."

"Thanks but I don't know if he agrees," she replied, glancing at him.

Puck sighed. "Rachel I'm sorry for earlier. I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you and I shouldn't have made you feel guilty for something that I asked you to do. Can you forgive me?"

"I don't know. The last thing I want is a relationship like what I had with Sam and you acting like that makes me afraid that that's exactly where we're heading."

Before Puck could respond, Sam cut in. "I know I did a lot of shitty things when we were together and I know I was the biggest asshole. But I can tell you that Puck is nothing like me. He's a good guy who really does love you and would probably be a wreck if you decided you didn't want to be with him. I mean the guy waited for over six months to be with you, do you really think he'll take something like that for granted? Trust me, the last thing that'll happen is your relationship becoming like ours was. I'll kick his ass if that even happens."

They laughed as Puck took Rachel's hands in his. "I'm not going to lie, I'm probably going to make more stupid mistakes. But I promise that you won't ever have to doubt that I love you. What we have is real and you know it."

After a moment, she smiled. "You're right I do." He smiled back before kissing her. When they pulled away, she looked at Sam. "I accept your apology. Just as long as it really is over."

"It is," he nodded. "I took what you guys said to heart and there's actually this cute girl in my geometry class that's been checking me out lately. So I think I'm going to give it a shot."

"Well I hope it works out," Rachel replied.

"Thanks. Now I'm going to get out of here and leave you guys alone. See you later," he said before walking out.

After the door closed, Puck leaned in to kiss Rachel but she stopped him. "Wait there's something I need to say."

"What is it?"

"I know Sam and I have history but I love you. Only you and I would never do anything to break your trust."

"I know that," he nodded. "And I'm sorry for ever insinuating that you did."

"Apology accepted," she smiled before kissing him and pulling him onto the couch to make up properly.

 **One more chapter left! Let me know your thoughts! Bye for now :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hello everyone! Enjoy!**

Chapter 20

Puck laughed as he watched Mike tackle Sam as they played football in the backyard of his house. "Hey go easy on him, you know he's not used to playing without pads."

Sam smirked. "Please I do a way better job than you do. I think you've gotten soft."

"Really? Okay let's settle this then."

Just before they were about to start up again, Maria interrupted them.

"Boys you know I hate you guys playing aggressively without any padding," she told them.

"Come on Mom, it's not like it'd be our first time doing it," Puck replied before quickly closing his mouth.

"Way to go Puck," Jake laughed, bringing lemonade to his mother who shook her head.

"Hey don't act like I haven't caught you in a few lies the same way," she told him before looking at Maria. "Must be genetic."

"Yeah let's just hope they stay this bad," Maria laughed. "Do you want to bring out the cake now?"

"Yeah I think that would be the perfect distraction from this football game," Jake's mom replied.

Maria gathered everyone before looking at Jake. "Well it's your birthday so why don't you say a few words to everyone?"

He nodded before looking at everyone. "Thanks for coming to my party. I've really appreciated how you guys have all made me feel welcomed since I moved here. Being an only child got pretty lonely at times so finding out that I had a brother and sister really made a difference. Despite how it happened, I'm glad we're all together now. So cheers to the first birthday spent together."

"The first of many," Puck smiled before everyone started singing happy birthday.

After Jake blew out his candles, his mother got a knife. "Okay who wants a piece?"

As everyone fought over which part of the cake they wanted, Puck walked over to Rachel. "Not getting any cake?"

She shook her head. "No, my stomach has been giving me problems all day, I think I'm going to skip cake."

He froze and raised an eyebrow. "You're not…"

Catching onto what he was asking Rachel immediately shook her head. "No complete opposite. That time of the month."

"Oh thank goodness," he breathed out in relief. "Well are you ready for our anniversary next week?"

"It's still so weird to be with someone who actually remembers," she replied.

He shrugged. "Well I remember and I'm going to make it great. And that's without the sex."

"Really? So there won't be any funny business that night then."

"I mean if it leads to that it won't be the worst thing in the world," he smirked as she playfully rolled her eyes.

"Puck let's go!" Sam called. "We're playing another game."

"I'm starting to miss having you all to myself," Rachel joked.

"Next weekend I'm all yours." He leaned in and kissed her before looking at her again. "But right now I need to go kick some ass."

Rachel laughed as Puck went to go play with the guys. She was happy that things were back to normal with Puck and the guys. It made their relationship easier and she could tell he was a lot happier. Everything was the way it should be.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next weekend, Puck smiled to himself as Rachel walked out her house.

"Ready for a night of love?" he asked.

"Definitely, I am very excited," she replied as they got in the car.

Puck drove to a restaurant outside of town much to Rachel's surprise. When they got inside and sat down, he looked at her.

"Order anything you want."

"Are you sure?" she raised an eyebrow. "This place is expensive."

"I've been saving up for this very occasion so it's fine I promise."

Giving in, Rachel nodded as the waiter came to them. Once their orders were taken care of, she looked back at Puck. "So I have some news."

"I'm all ears."

"I told my dads about us meeting Shelby."

"Really?" he asked. He had been trying to convince Rachel to tell her dads the truth about their meeting in hopes it can happen again. "How'd they take it?"

"They were understandably upset that I did all of it without them knowing. Of course I told them that I begged you to keep it a secret so they're not upset with you or anything."

"Wow. So what now?"

"I get to at least talk to Shelby on the phone every now and then for right now. When I move to New York after high school it's another story."

"Well at least you have contact with her now." When he noticed her happiness going away, he frowned. "What's wrong?"

"Have you thought about what you're going to do after graduation? I mean I know we still have senior year but that'll be over before we know it. I'm sure we'll still be together by then, at least I hope we will, and I don't know what'll happen after that so I just-"

"Hey relax," he said, taking her hand. "I want us to last too but graduation's a year away. We have time to figure out what'll happen next but for tonight, I just want to focus on us and how happy I am that I'm here with you after months of waiting and never knowing if I would ever get this chance."

Rachel smiled and squeezed his hand. "I love you."

"I love you too," he kissed her hand. "So what play are we seeing this summer?"

As she excitedly told him of the options of plays and musicals they could see in New York that summer, Puck couldn't help but smile. This time last year she was dating his best friend and now they were here. Rachel loved him and wanted to be with him and he was able to rebuild his friendship with Sam. Everything had fallen into place for them and he couldn't be happier with the outcome.

 **That's the end! Thanks for reading and keep a look out for my next update for one of my other stories. Bye for now :)**


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